Circular Business Models: Good for Nature, Good for People?

Abstract

This research is a contribution to the growing studies regarding circular businesses and societal dimensions within. The main research question is: “What are the core social outcomes of the implementation of (different) circular business models?”. To completely answer the research question, a literature analysis on current approaches and definitions to circularity, existing social outcomes, and circular business models was done. In addition, the research part consists of an extensive analysis from 9 interviews with circular business founders, employees, and field specialists. To add, sustainability and integrated reports provided additional validity. After gathering all the findings from the qualitative data analysis and available literature 4 main social outcomes were identified: improvements and protection for individual health, reshaping labour market through inclusivity and new employment creation, a greater utility for society through additional choices or quality of circular products and responsible consumer behaviour, and questionable fairness and ethicality of circular BM. To add, circular products might not be available for the majority of society due to pricing. This research also includes several limitations including time constraints, possible bias, sample size, and region. Despite the restrictions, this research might help future scholars to build systematic research models and evaluate the outcomes not only in qualitative methods but also using a quantitative approach. To add, this study could be considered as the starting point for circular companies while updating and creating their strategies and evaluating their impact.