IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/sae/jouent/v7y2021i1p17-23.html

Digitisation and Sustainable Development: The Opportunities and Risks of Using Digital Technologies for the Implementation of a Circular Economy

Author

Listed:
  • Benjamin Kottmeyer

Abstract

Digitisation is developing a transformational potential that is profoundly changing people, our societies and the planet. Like any major societal transformation, it offers both, significant opportunities for progress and significant risks with harmful consequences for societies. This paper, therefore, addresses the question: ‘What are the critical social outcomes and concerns flowing from the advances in digitisation on our work environment?’ To discuss the broad research question in sufficient depth, this paper focuses not only on specific critical social outcomes of digitisation but also on how some of them can be mitigated by combining digital tools with the concept of a circular economy (representing the abstract idea of sustainable development). The implementation of blockchain technologies and new business models shows that digital technologies have the potential to close the realisation gap between theory and practice of the circular economy concept by enhancing the information flow and the communication between stakeholders in the value chain. Nonetheless, the implementation of these technologies also entails social and economic risks, such as power abuse or regulatory arbitrage, which should be considered in advance. To avoid jeopardising digital innovations, future research should therefore develop a more holistic and interdisciplinary understanding of the complex interactions to exploit the potential of digitisation for social progress.

Suggested Citation

  • Benjamin Kottmeyer, 2021. "Digitisation and Sustainable Development: The Opportunities and Risks of Using Digital Technologies for the Implementation of a Circular Economy," Journal of Entrepreneurship and Innovation in Emerging Economies, Entrepreneurship Development Institute of India, vol. 7(1), pages 17-23, January.
    • Handle: RePEc:sae:jouent:v:7:y:2021:i:1:p:17-23
    DOI: 10.1177/2393957520967799
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/2393957520967799
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1177/2393957520967799?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Nancy Bocken & Lars Strupeit & Katherine Whalen & Julia Nußholz, 2019. "A Review and Evaluation of Circular Business Model Innovation Tools," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 11(8), pages 1-25, April.
    2. Walid Al-Saqaf & Nicolas Seidler, 2017. "Blockchain technology for social impact: opportunities and challenges ahead," Journal of Cyber Policy, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 2(3), pages 338-354, September.
    3. 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.
    4. Kim, Min Jung, 2019. "Benefits and Concerns of the Sharing Economy: Economic Analysis and Policy Implications," KDI Journal of Economic Policy, Korea Development Institute (KDI), vol. 41(1), pages 15-41.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Weaich, Malcolm, 2024. "Mapping the Novel Nexus of Young People, Digitalisation, and Sustainability in the Global South: A Bibliometric Approach to Reviewing Literature for Future Studies," SocArXiv b6fmr, Center for Open Science.
    2. Geoffrey Lugwisha, 2023. "Leveraging Technology and Political Dialogue for Economic, Social Environmental Sustainability Building a Better Africa," Economic, Social and Environmental Sustainability; The Role of Technology and Political Dialogue,, ToKnowPress.
    3. Geoffrey Lugwisha, 2023. "Leveraging Technology and Political Dialogue for Economic, Social, and Environmental Sustainability: Building a Better Africa," Economic, Social and Environmental Sustainability; The Role of Technology and Political Dialogue,, ToKnowPress.
    4. repec:osf:socarx:b6fmr_v1 is not listed on IDEAS
    5. Jefferson Leandro Schmidt & Simone Sehnem & Juliano Danilo Spuldaro, 2024. "Blockchain and the transition to the circular economy: A literature review," Corporate Social Responsibility and Environmental Management, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 31(3), pages 2010-2032, May.

    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. Mechthild Donner & Ivana Radić & Yamna Erraach & Fatima El Hadad-Gauthier, 2022. "Implementation of circular business models for olive oil waste and by-product valorization," Post-Print hal-03756908, HAL.
    2. Daniel Jugend & Hugo Henrique dos Santos & Susana Garrido & Regiane Máximo Siqueira & Jaime A. Mesa, 2024. "Circular product design challenges: An exploratory study on critical barriers," Business Strategy and the Environment, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 33(5), pages 4825-4842, July.
    3. Mechthild Donner & Ivana Radić & Yamna Erraach & Fatima El Hadad-Gauthier, 2022. "Implementation of Circular Business Models for Olive Oil Waste and By-Product Valorization," Resources, MDPI, vol. 11(7), pages 1-18, July.
    4. Rodrigues Dias, Veruska Mazza & Jugend, Daniel & de Camargo Fiorini, Paula & Razzino, Carlos do Amaral & Paula Pinheiro, Marco Antonio, 2022. "Possibilities for applying the circular economy in the aerospace industry: Practices, opportunities and challenges," Journal of Air Transport Management, Elsevier, vol. 102(C).
    5. Mark Anthony Camilleri, 2020. "European environment policy for the circular economy: Implications for business and industry stakeholders," Sustainable Development, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 28(6), pages 1804-1812, November.
    6. Ana de Jesus & Minna Lammi & Teresa Domenech & Fedra Vanhuyse & Sandro Mendonça, 2021. "Eco-Innovation Diversity in a Circular Economy: Towards Circular Innovation Studies," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(19), pages 1-22, October.
    7. Lukas Alexander Benz, 2022. "Critical Success Factors for Circular Business Model Innovation from the Perspective of the Sustainable Development Goals," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(10), pages 1-18, May.
    8. Maiara Marcon & Taís Provensi & Simone Sehnem & Lucila M. S. Campos & Adriane Angelica Farias Santos Lopes Queiroz, 2023. "The internalisation of the circular economy and ESG in Brazilian B Corps from the perspective of the Stakeholder Theory," Sustainable Development, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 31(5), pages 3513-3527, October.
    9. Kristoffersen, Eivind & Mikalef, Patrick & Blomsma, Fenna & Li, Jingyue, 2021. "Towards a business analytics capability for the circular economy," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 171(C).
    10. Md Tasbirul Islam & Usha Iyer-Raniga, 2023. "Circular Business Model Value Dimension Canvas: Tool Redesign for Innovation and Validation through an Australian Case Study," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(15), pages 1-47, July.
    11. Anja Eisenreich & Johann Füller & Martin Stuchtey, 2021. "Circular Project Selection: How Companies Can Evaluate Circular Innovation Projects," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(22), pages 1-30, November.
    12. Marie Luise Elisabeth Hartmann & Thomas B. Long, 2025. "The challenges that remain: The role of innovation intermediary‐led training in implementing circular business models," Business Strategy and the Environment, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 34(1), pages 570-585, January.
    13. Kristoffersen, Eivind & Mikalef, Patrick & Blomsma, Fenna & Li, Jingyue, 2021. "The effects of business analytics capability on circular economy implementation, resource orchestration capability, and firm performance," International Journal of Production Economics, Elsevier, vol. 239(C).
    14. Chirumalla, Koteshwar & Reyes, Lizbeth Guerrero & Toorajipour, Reza, 2022. "Mapping a circular business opportunity in electric vehicle battery value chain: A multi-stakeholder framework to create a win–win–win situation," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 145(C), pages 569-582.
    15. Swati Kasana & Meena Chavan & Darshana Sedera & Zhiming Cheng & Max Ganzin, 2024. "Unlocking circular start‐ups: A model of barriers," Business Strategy and the Environment, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 33(3), pages 2546-2577, March.
    16. Maryam Hina & Chetna Chauhan & Rajat Sharma & Amandeep Dhir, 2023. "Circular economy business models as pillars of sustainability: Where are we now, and where are we heading?," Business Strategy and the Environment, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 32(8), pages 6182-6209, December.
    17. Pina Puntillo, 2023. "Circular economy business models: Towards achieving sustainable development goals in the waste management sector—Empirical evidence and theoretical implications," Corporate Social Responsibility and Environmental Management, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 30(2), pages 941-954, March.
    18. Tina Wiegand & Martin Wynn, 2023. "Sustainability, the Circular Economy and Digitalisation in the German Textile and Clothing Industry," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(11), pages 1-30, June.
    19. German Arana‐Landin & Waleska Sigüenza & Beñat Landeta‐Manzano & Iker Laskurain‐Iturbe, 2024. "Circular economy: On the road to ISO 59000 family of standards," Corporate Social Responsibility and Environmental Management, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 31(3), pages 1977-2009, May.
    20. Lulwah AlSuwaidan & Nuha Almegren, 2020. "Validating the Adoption of Heterogeneous Internet of Things with Blockchain," Future Internet, MDPI, vol. 12(6), pages 1-17, June.

    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:sae:jouent:v:7:y:2021:i:1:p:17-23. 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: SAGE Publications (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.ediindia.org/ .

    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.