Developing Sustainable Partnerships for Circular Economies: A Literature Review

Abstract

Although the circular economy (CE) is considered a systemic and relational phenomenon, literature on the subject still fails to demonstrate an understanding of how stakeholders engage with one another and, therefore, how long-term partnerships are developed in a context focused on sustainability. In this chapter, we conduct a literature review and an in-depth analysis of 59 articles that have been published over the last decade. Taking on the theoretical lens of the quintuple helix model (QHM), we analyse articles from high-impact journals specialising in the circular economy. Through a constant comparison analysis, we identify three building blocks (vision, stakeholders, and processes) and nine underlying enabling mechanisms that are essential to developing sustainable partnerships for circular economies. We also highlight various obstacles that may affect the development of sustainable partnerships. We contribute to the growing body of literature on circular economy stakeholder engagement by taking a multi-actor, multi-level perspective, and provide a checklist for different stakeholders to understand what is needed to engage with one another and collaborate to resolve sustainability issues.