A systematic literature review exploring and linking circular economy and sustainable development goals in the past three decades (1991–2022)

AbstractAmid the escalating environmental crises and economic disparities, Circular Economy (CE) has garnered recognition as a pragmatic mechanism for achieving Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). In response, several supply chain organisations are integrating CE strategies into their business operations and production processes. Despite these developments and since the introduction of Business Charter for Sustainable Development by the International Chamber of Commerce in 1991, the academic corpus comprehensively connecting CE research themes, catalysts, deterrents, practices with the SDGs has remained limited. To bridge this gap, we present a systematic literature review (SLR) of CE research in operations, supply chain and production management encompassing a time span of 31 years (January 1991 – June 2022), by sourcing, screening, and analysing articles obtained from multiple research databases. Our thematic coding analysis generated ten research themes, and subsequently linking them with relevant SDGs. Additionally, we interweaved CE catalysts and deterrents, establishing a connection with the SDGs. This is further enriched with CE strategies aimed at equipping business practitioners to enhance sustainable business performance and contributing to specific SDGs. Lastly, we delineate CE knowledge data management and priority actions frameworks to aid organisations to enhance employee capability and actively leverage digital technologies for implementing CE strategies.KEYWORDS: Circular economySystematic literature reviewThematic evolutionGreen and responsible supply chain managementSustainability development goalsSustainable business performance Disclosure statementNo potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).Data availability statementThe data that support the findings of this study are available from the corresponding author upon reasonable request. The data are not publicly available due to the size of the dataset.Additional informationFundingThe work described in this paper was substantially supported by grants from Macau University of Science and Technology Faculty Research Grants (FRG) under grant number FRG-22–108-MSB, and The Macau Foundation Fund (MFP) under grant number MF-23-008-R.Notes on contributorsEmilia Vann YarosonEmilia Vann Yaroson is a lecturer in Operations and Analytics at the University of Huddersfield Business School. She earned her PhD in Operations and Information Management at the University of Bradford, UK. Her current research focus include theoretical improvement and applications of artificial intelligence, big data analytics, block chain, within health service operations, supply chain resilience and sustainable production and open innovation. She has published in leading peer reviewed journals such as International Journal of Production Research, Journal of Business Research and Supply Chain Management.Soumyadeb ChowdhurySoumyadeb Chowdhury is Associate Professor of Digital Sustainability Management, Emerging Techs and Analytics at TBS Education, France, within the Information, Operations and Decision Sciences department. He is Head of TBS Center of Excellence on Sustainable Development and Corporate Social Responsibility (SD-CSR). His research currently focusses on Circular Economy, Sustainability in Small and Medium-sized Enterprises (SMEs), Digital analytics for smart decision-making, and Emerging technologies adoption and management. His research projects have received grants from the British Council, Newton-Royal Academy of Engineering (RAE), UK Research and Innovation (UKRI), Economic and Social Research Council, French National Research Agency (ANR), collaborating with academic and SMEs practitioners across the world in both emerging and developed economies. He has also co-authored the World Economic Forum Report 2022 on SMEs Future Readiness (Chapter on Sustainability), World Economic Forum White paper on SMEs as data-driven enterprises and facilitated a workshop in the forum for industry practitioners on the former topic. He has also published multi-disciplinary research on sustainability in top journals such as British Journal of Management, Juman Resource Management Journal, International Journal of Production Economics, Journal of Business Research, Business Strategy and Management, and International Journal of Human Resource Management.Sachin Kumar ManglaSachin Kumar Mangla is working in the field of Green and Sustainable Supply Chain and Operations; Industry 4.0; Circular Economy; Decision Making and Simulation. He has a teaching experience of more than five years in Supply Chain and Operations Management and Decision Making, and currently associated in teaching with various universities in UK, Turkey, India, China, France, etc. He is the director of Research Centre for 'Digital Circular Economy for Sustainable Development Goals (DCE-SDG)', O.P. Jindal Global University, India. He is committed to do and promote high quality research. He has published/presented several papers in repute international/national journals (Journal of Business Research; International Journal of Production Economics; International Journal of Production Research; Computers and Operations Research; Production Planning and Control; Business Strategy and the Environment;; Annals of Operations Research; Transportation Research Part-D; Transportation Research Part-E; Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews; Resource Conservation and Recycling; Information System Frontier; Journal of Cleaner Production; Management Decision; Industrial Data and Management System) and conferences (POMS, SOMS, IIIE, CILT – LRN, MCDM, GLOGIFT). He has an h-index 70, i10-index 150, Google Scholar Citations of 15,000. He is involved in several editorial positions and editing couple of Special issues as a Guest Editor in top tier journals. Currently, he is working as an Associate Editor at Journal of Cleaner Production, International Journal of Logistics Management, Sustainable Production and Consumption, Corporate Social Responsibility and Environmental Management, and IMA Journal of Management Mathematics journals. He is also involved in several research projects on various issues and applications of Circular economy, Industry 4.0 and Sustainability. Among them, he contributed to the knowledge-based decision model in ‘Enhancing and implementing knowledge-based ICT solutions within high risk and uncertain conditions for agriculture production systems (RUC-APS)’, European Commission RISE scheme, €1.3M. Recently, he has also received a grant as a PI from British Council – Newton Fund Research Environment Links Turkey/UK – Circular and Industry 4.0 driven solutions for reducing food waste in supply chains. He is also working in several projects on Food Waste and Circular Economy and Industry 4.0 issues, sponsored by AICTE, ICSSR, Government of India. He received project funding for Food Waste Management in Circular Economy from the USERC, Government of India. He has also won the first prize for the prestigious Basant Kumar Birla Distinguished Scholar Award 2021. He was ranked 404 in the world and 10 in United Kingdom and was recognised with 2022 Rising Star of Science Award by Research.com. He was also ranked among the top 2% scientists in the world by the Stanford University. Recently, he also been awarded as a High-End Foreign Expert Talent Grant from Ministry of Science and Technology, China. He is also the member of NWO – Dutch Research Council – Circular Economy Committee. He is also an active member of The Future Earth Systems of Sustainable Consumption and Production Knowledge-Action Network (SSCP KAN).Prasanta DeyPrasanta Kumar Dey is Professor of Operations Management at Aston Business School. He has been honoured as the 50th Anniversary Chair of Aston University in 2017. He was awarded a Fellowship of the Academy of Social Sciences in 2021. He specialises in supply chain management and project management, business productivity, sustainability, and circular economy. He has published more than 150 research papers in leading international refereed journals such as International Journal of Production Economics, British Journal of Management, Business Strategy and Environment, European Journal of Operations Research, and Annals of Operations Research. He has accomplished several impactful interdisciplinary research projects on sustainable supply chain of small – and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), which are funded by leading funding bodies like Research Council UK, British Council, Royal Society, Royal Academy of Engineering, EU horizon 2020, and ERDF. He has also co-authored the World Economic Forum Report 2022 on SMEs Future Readiness (Chapter on Sustainability) bringing together the research perspectives.Felix T. S. ChanFelix T. S. Chan received his BSc Degree in Mechanical Engineering from Brighton University, UK, and obtained his MSc and PhD in Manufacturing Engineering from the Imperial College of Science and Technology, University of London, UK. His current research interests are Logistics and Supply Chain Management, Decision Making, AI Optimisation, Operations Research, Production and Operations Management, Distribution Coordination. To date, Prof. Chan has published over 16 book chapters, over 440 SCI refereed international journal papers and 330 peer reviewed international conference papers. His total number of citations > 12,000, h Index = 56. Prof. Chan is a chartered member of the Chartered Institute of Logistics and Transport in Hong Kong. Furthermore, based on the recent compilations from a research group of Stanford about the impact of scientists (top 2% listed), Prof. Felix Chan have been successfully listed at the top 2% world scientists for THREE consecutive years (2020–2022).Melanie RouxMélanie Roux is an Assistant Professor in entrepreneurship, Innovation management, and Strategy at Toulouse Business School. She obtained her PhD in Management Sciences from IAE Aix-Marseille in France. Her current research focuses on the sustainable use of artificial intelligence in innovation, sustainable innovation, and the value of intrapreneurship in meeting major societal challenges. She has published articles in leading peer-reviewed journals such as Journal of Business Research and Review of Entrepreneurship.