IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/gam/jsusta/v17y2025i11p5105-d1670395.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Digital Marketing as a Driver of Change Towards the Circular Economy

Author

Listed:
  • Pedro Antonio Martín-Cervantes

    (Department of Financial Economics and Accounting, University of Valladolid, 47011 Valladolid, Spain)

  • Parisa Ziarati

    (Halal Research Center of IRI, Food and Drug Administration (IR-FDA), Ministry of Health and Medical Education (MOH+ME), Tehran 1461966461, Iran)

  • Pablo de Frutos Madrazo

    (Department of Applied Economics, University of Valladolid, 47002 Valladolid, Spain)

  • Iza Gigauri

    (School of Business and Administrative Studies, The University of Georgia, Tbilisi 0171, Georgia)

Abstract

This study explores the emerging link between digital marketing and the circular economy, situated within the broader context of sustainability and digital transformation. Through a scientometric analysis of 276 documents indexed in Scopus, the research maps the conceptual, intellectual, and collaborative landscape of this intersection. The dataset was refined using the PRISMA standards, and the analysis was carried out with the R package bibliometrix. The findings reveal a highly fragmented body of literature, with a few prolific authors and limited international cooperation. Most of the influential publications are concentrated in a small number of sources, particularly the journal Sustainability. Thematic mapping identifies growing interest in areas such as consumer perception, sustainable development, and the adoption of digital tools by micro-enterprises, while other topics like recycling or public health remain peripheral. Although the scholarly output has surged in recent years (especially during 2023 and 2024), the field still lacks coherent theoretical frameworks or dominant research schools. Overall, digital marketing appears to be a promising driver for promoting circular practices, but further applied studies and enhanced international collaboration are essential to consolidate this line of inquiry.

Suggested Citation

  • Pedro Antonio Martín-Cervantes & Parisa Ziarati & Pablo de Frutos Madrazo & Iza Gigauri, 2025. "Digital Marketing as a Driver of Change Towards the Circular Economy," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 17(11), pages 1-24, June.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:17:y:2025:i:11:p:5105-:d:1670395
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/17/11/5105/pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/17/11/5105/
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Per O. Seglen, 1994. "Causal relationship between article citedness and journal impact," Journal of the American Society for Information Science, Association for Information Science & Technology, vol. 45(1), pages 1-11, January.
    2. Gustavo Cattelan Nobre & Elaine Tavares, 2017. "Scientific literature analysis on big data and internet of things applications on circular economy: a bibliometric study," Scientometrics, Springer;Akadémiai Kiadó, vol. 111(1), pages 463-492, April.
    3. Emmanuel Bruce & Zhao Shurong & Du Ying & Meng Yaqi & John Amoah & Sulemana Bankuoru Egala, 2023. "The Effect of Digital Marketing Adoption on SMEs Sustainable Growth: Empirical Evidence from Ghana," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(6), pages 1-24, March.
    4. Philippe Mongeon & Adèle Paul-Hus, 2016. "The journal coverage of Web of Science and Scopus: a comparative analysis," Scientometrics, Springer;Akadémiai Kiadó, vol. 106(1), pages 213-228, January.
    5. Wolfgang Glänzel & Henk F. Moed, 2013. "Opinion paper: thoughts and facts on bibliometric indicators," Scientometrics, Springer;Akadémiai Kiadó, vol. 96(1), pages 381-394, July.
    6. Diego Vicinanza & Mariano Buccino, 2017. "A Helicopter View of the Special Issue on Wave Energy Converters," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 9(2), pages 1-4, February.
    7. Raminta Pranckutė, 2021. "Web of Science (WoS) and Scopus: The Titans of Bibliographic Information in Today’s Academic World," Publications, MDPI, vol. 9(1), pages 1-59, March.
    8. Cook, Don Lloyd & Coupey, Eloise, 1998. "Consumer Behavior and Unresolved Regulatory Issues in Electronic Marketing," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 41(3), pages 231-238, March.
    9. Jairo León-Quismondo & Jorge García-Unanue & Pablo Burillo, 2020. "Best Practices for Fitness Center Business Sustainability: A Qualitative Vision," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(12), pages 1-17, June.
    10. Gemma Conroy & Smriti Mallapaty, 2025. "How China created AI model DeepSeek and shocked the world," Nature, Nature, vol. 638(8050), pages 300-301, February.
    11. Alan Murray & Keith Skene & Kathryn Haynes, 2017. "The Circular Economy: An Interdisciplinary Exploration of the Concept and Application in a Global Context," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 140(3), pages 369-380, February.
    12. Howe Eng Tang & Linmin Zhang, 2025. "Digital Age Challenge: University Students’ Excessive Use of TikTok," Studies in Media and Communication, Redfame publishing, vol. 13(1), pages 83-91, March.
    13. Iza GIGAURI & Pedro Antonio MARTÃ N-CERVANTES, 2023. "Global Trends of Digitization in the Face of Creativity and Innovation," Romanian Journal of Economics, Institute of National Economy, vol. 56(1(65)), pages 5-20, July.
    14. Nees Jan Eck & Ludo Waltman, 2010. "Software survey: VOSviewer, a computer program for bibliometric mapping," Scientometrics, Springer;Akadémiai Kiadó, vol. 84(2), pages 523-538, August.
    15. Kirchherr, Julian & Reike, Denise & Hekkert, Marko, 2017. "Conceptualizing the circular economy: An analysis of 114 definitions," Resources, Conservation & Recycling, Elsevier, vol. 127(C), pages 221-232.
    16. Carlos Gabriel Parrales Choez & María del Carmen Valls Martínez & Pedro Antonio Martín-Cervantes & Wei Xing Zhou, 2022. "Longitudinal Study of Credit Union Research: From Credit-Provision to Cooperative Principles, the Urban Economy and Gender Issues," Complexity, Hindawi, vol. 2022, pages 1-17, August.
    17. Bassamzadeh, Nastaran & Ghanem, Roger, 2017. "Multiscale stochastic prediction of electricity demand in smart grids using Bayesian networks," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 193(C), pages 369-380.
    18. Ionela Munteanu & Liliana Ionescu-Feleagă & Bogdan Ștefan Ionescu, 2024. "Financial Strategies for Sustainability: Examining the Circular Economy Perspective," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 16(20), pages 1-22, October.
    19. Surender Mor & Ranjan Aneja & Sonu Madan & Mahesh Ghimire, 2024. "Kyoto Protocol and Paris Agreement: Transition from Bindings to Pledges – A Review," Millennial Asia, , vol. 15(4), pages 690-711, December.
    20. Ketmanto Wangsa & Shakir Karim & Ergun Gide & Mahmoud Elkhodr, 2024. "A Systematic Review and Comprehensive Analysis of Pioneering AI Chatbot Models from Education to Healthcare: ChatGPT, Bard, Llama, Ernie and Grok," Future Internet, MDPI, vol. 16(7), pages 1-23, June.
    21. Francisco Diez-Martin & Alicia Blanco-Gonzalez & Camilo Prado-Roman, 2019. "Research Challenges in Digital Marketing: Sustainability," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 11(10), pages 1-13, May.
    22. Mateusz Lewandowski, 2016. "Designing the Business Models for Circular Economy—Towards the Conceptual Framework," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 8(1), pages 1-28, January.
    23. Neal Coulter & Ira Monarch & Suresh Konda, 1998. "Software engineering as seen through its research literature: A study in co‐word analysis," Journal of the American Society for Information Science, Association for Information Science & Technology, vol. 49(13), pages 1206-1223.
    24. Irena Sajovic & Bojana Boh Podgornik, 2022. "Bibliometric Analysis of Visualizations in Computer Graphics: A Study," SAGE Open, , vol. 12(1), pages 21582440211, January.
    25. Gerusa Giménez Leal & Rodolfo de Castro Vila & Alexandra Barón Dorado & Angela Jäger, 2025. "Circular Economy Adoption in Manufacturing Firms: Evidence From Germany," Business Strategy and the Environment, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 34(2), pages 1574-1589, February.
    26. Dan Dumitriu & Gheorghe Militaru & Dana Corina Deselnicu & Andrei Niculescu & Mirona Ana-Maria Popescu, 2019. "A Perspective Over Modern SMEs: Managing Brand Equity, Growth and Sustainability Through Digital Marketing Tools and Techniques," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 11(7), pages 1-24, April.
    27. Muhammad Ussama Majeed & Sumaira Aslam & Shah Ali Murtaza & Szakács Attila & Edina Molnár, 2022. "Green Marketing Approaches and Their Impact on Green Purchase Intentions: Mediating Role of Green Brand Image and Consumer Beliefs towards the Environment," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(18), pages 1-18, September.
    28. Nagpal, Mayank & Petersen, J. Andrew, 2021. "Keyword Selection Strategies in Search Engine Optimization: How Relevant is Relevance?," Journal of Retailing, Elsevier, vol. 97(4), pages 746-763.
    29. Miika Kumpulainen & Marko Seppänen, 2022. "Combining Web of Science and Scopus datasets in citation-based literature study," Scientometrics, Springer;Akadémiai Kiadó, vol. 127(10), pages 5613-5631, October.
    30. Francesco Piras, 2024. "A Systematic Literature Review on Technological Innovation in the Wine Tourism Industry: Insights and Perspectives," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 16(22), pages 1-16, November.
    31. Sheen Low & Fahim Ullah & Sara Shirowzhan & Samad M. E. Sepasgozar & Chyi Lin Lee, 2020. "Smart Digital Marketing Capabilities for Sustainable Property Development: A Case of Malaysia," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(13), pages 1-40, July.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Dušan Nikolić & Dragan Ivanović & Lidija Ivanović, 2024. "An open-source tool for merging data from multiple citation databases," Scientometrics, Springer;Akadémiai Kiadó, vol. 129(7), pages 4573-4595, July.
    2. Mónica Duque-Acevedo & Luis Jesús Belmonte-Ureña & Natalia Yakovleva & Francisco Camacho-Ferre, 2020. "Analysis of the Circular Economic Production Models and Their Approach in Agriculture and Agricultural Waste Biomass Management," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 17(24), pages 1-32, December.
    3. Abdelkebir Sahid & Yassine Maleh & Karim Ouazzane, 2025. "Changing landscape of fake news research on social media: a bibliometric analysis," Quality & Quantity: International Journal of Methodology, Springer, vol. 59(2), pages 901-954, April.
    4. Okechukwu Okorie & Konstantinos Salonitis & Fiona Charnley & Mariale Moreno & Christopher Turner & Ashutosh Tiwari, 2018. "Digitisation and the Circular Economy: A Review of Current Research and Future Trends," Energies, MDPI, vol. 11(11), pages 1-31, November.
    5. Filippo Corsini & Natalia Marzia Gusmerotti & Marco Frey, 2023. "Fostering the Circular Economy with Blockchain Technology: Insights from a Bibliometric Approach," Circular Economy and Sustainability, Springer, vol. 3(4), pages 1819-1839, December.
    6. Zhen Liu & Jing Liu & Mohamed Osmani, 2021. "Integration of Digital Economy and Circular Economy: Current Status and Future Directions," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(13), pages 1-27, June.
    7. Magdalena Rusch & Josef‐Peter Schöggl & Rupert J. Baumgartner, 2023. "Application of digital technologies for sustainable product management in a circular economy: A review," Business Strategy and the Environment, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 32(3), pages 1159-1174, March.
    8. Marcos Ferasso & Tatiana Beliaeva & Sascha Kraus & Thomas Clauss & Domingo Ribeiro‐Soriano, 2020. "Circular economy business models: The state of research and avenues ahead," Business Strategy and the Environment, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 29(8), pages 3006-3024, December.
    9. Chembessi Chedrak & Gohoungodji Paulin & Juste Rajaonson, 2023. "“A fine wine, better with age”: Circular economy historical roots and influential publications: A bibliometric analysis using Reference Publication Year Spectroscopy (RPYS)," Journal of Industrial Ecology, Yale University, vol. 27(6), pages 1593-1612, December.
    10. Gilbert Silvius & Aydan Ismayilova & Vicente Sales-Vivó & Micol Costi, 2021. "Exploring Barriers for Circularity in the EU Furniture Industry," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(19), pages 1-25, October.
    11. David Moroz, 2024. "What does terroir mean? A science mapping of a multidimensional concept," Journal of Agricultural Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 75(3), pages 889-913, September.
    12. Gabi Försterling & Ronald Orth & Benjamin Gellert, 2023. "Transition to a Circular Economy in Europe through New Business Models: Barriers, Drivers, and Policy Making," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(10), pages 1-40, May.
    13. Emilio Abad-Segura & Ana Batlles-delaFuente & Mariana-Daniela González-Zamar & Luis Jesús Belmonte-Ureña, 2021. "Implications for Sustainability of the Joint Application of Bioeconomy and Circular Economy: A Worldwide Trend Study," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(13), pages 1-24, June.
    14. Belmonte-Ureña, Luis Jesús & Plaza-Úbeda, José Antonio & Vazquez-Brust, Diego & Yakovleva, Natalia, 2021. "Circular economy, degrowth and green growth as pathways for research on sustainable development goals: A global analysis and future agenda," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 185(C).
    15. Ewa Mazur-Wierzbicka, 2021. "Towards Circular Economy—A Comparative Analysis of the Countries of the European Union," Resources, MDPI, vol. 10(5), pages 1-25, May.
    16. Bhavesh Kumar & Love Kumar & Avinash Kumar & Ramna Kumari & Uroosa Tagar & Claudio Sassanelli, 2024. "Green finance in circular economy: a literature review," Environment, Development and Sustainability: A Multidisciplinary Approach to the Theory and Practice of Sustainable Development, Springer, vol. 26(7), pages 16419-16459, July.
    17. Cui, Yongfeng & Liu, Wei & Rani, Pratibha & Alrasheedi, Melfi, 2021. "Internet of Things (IoT) adoption barriers for the circular economy using Pythagorean fuzzy SWARA-CoCoSo decision-making approach in the manufacturing sector," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 171(C).
    18. Ganesh Dash & Debarun Chakraborty, 2021. "Digital Transformation of Marketing Strategies during a Pandemic: Evidence from an Emerging Economy during COVID-19," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(12), pages 1-19, June.
    19. Sabina Scarpellini, 2022. "Social impacts of a circular business model: An approach from a sustainability accounting and reporting perspective," Corporate Social Responsibility and Environmental Management, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 29(3), pages 646-656, May.
    20. Clelia Fagone & Margherita Santamicone & Valentina Villa, 2023. "Architecture Engineering and Construction Industrial Framework for Circular Economy: Development of a Circular Construction Site Methodology," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(3), pages 1-23, January.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:17:y:2025:i:11:p:5105-:d:1670395. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: MDPI Indexing Manager (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.mdpi.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.