Digital technology adoption in circular startups: An integrated framework

Abstract

While the role of digital technologies (DTs) in facilitating entrepreneurship is well established, research on understanding the role of DTs among circular start-ups as part of their overall strategy is scarce. This is vital from the perspective of emerging economies, such as India. The study aims to identify and analyse the factors influencing digital technology adoption in circular start-ups using the Technology-Organisation-Environment (TOE) framework and Technology Acceptance Model (TAM) to form a novel Circular Startup Digital Adoption (CSDA) framework. In addition to integrating the TOE framework and TAM, the study utilises a systematic literature review with subject-matter-expert (SME) consultation in order to determine the factors of the CSDA framework. To the best of the authors' knowledge, this is among the first studies to analyse the factors behind the adoption of DTs by circular startups from an emerging economy perspective, offering theoretical, managerial and policy implications.