Investigating circular business implementation’s antecedents: an empirical assessment of open innovation and digital technologies adoption

More and more companies are winking at sustainability through the adoption of circular business models, which are based on resource and waste minimization to establish a renewable closed-loop production and consumption system. Departing from a linear take-make-use-dispose setting, circular economy principles lead businesses’ transition toward the development of circular products and processes. Drawing on past studies that associate circular businesses with the adoption of digital technologies or open innovation approaches, this research seeks to shed light on the role of openness in companies’ innovation approach and digital technologies in fostering a circular business model development. In this vein, the authors’ purpose is to quantitatively evaluate such elements as predictors of circular business model development and thriving. After pointing out some key features of the research, the paper concludes with the presentation of the expected findings and the discussion of the potential theoretical and practical implications of the study.