Approaches to Circular Economy Research

Deutz, Pauline; Caeiro, Sandra; Lindgreen, Erik Roos; Thapa, Kaustubh; Walker, Anna M.; Pusz, Małgorzata

Abstract

Understanding and developing a circular economy (CE) and the implications for doing so involves communication and collaboration across a wide variety of stakeholders. Research has a key role to play in providing the relevant evidence and well-founded expectations through which to make decisions and steer implementation. A wide range of academic disciplines and interdisciplinary collaborations are relevant to the task, bringing potential differences in approaches to and uses of data, which risks compounding the issues of communication. This chapter addresses these issues and introduces critical realism as the Cresting project’s philosophical framework. Critical realism asserts an objective reality, while recognising that it is understood via the subjectivities of participants. The aim is to determine the causal mechanisms influencing a situation, which is necessary to bring about effective change. Critical realism also has an openness to engagement with stakeholders that values them more highly, or more closely, than ‘objects’ of research. The Cresting project adopted a range of approaches, some resembling transdisciplinarity (the co-production of knowledge with stakeholder(s)), while others were more detached. This chapter presents and justifies the adoption of critical realism and discusses several experiences of CE research in a public or private context and in different regional contexts, where stakeholders’ engagement was successfully undertaken using different methods. Stakeholder collaboration was found to be central to any kind of CE research, as it provides an avenue to contextualise the assessment with the local conditions and value systems. This chapter concludes with some reflections and future directions on how to improve stakeholders’ engagement in order to facilitate co-creation processes of CE and sustainability implementation.

Citation

Deutz, P., Caeiro, S., Lindgreen, E. R., Thapa, K., Walker, A. M., & Pusz, M. (2024). Approaches to Circular Economy Research. In P. Deutz, W. J. Vermeulen, R. J. Baumgartner, T. B. Ramos, & A. Raggi (Eds.), Circular Economy Realities: Critical Perspectives on Sustainability (13-44). Routledge. https://doi.org/10.4324/9781003295631-2

• Online Publication Date: Jul 30, 2024
• Publication Date: Jul 30, 2024
• Deposit Date: Nov 7, 2024
• Publicly Available Date: Nov 14, 2024
• Publisher: Routledge
• Pages: 13-44
• Series Title: Routledge/ISDRS Series in Sustainable Development Research
• Book Title: Circular Economy Realities: Critical Perspectives on Sustainability
• Chapter Number: 2
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.4324/9781003295631-2
• Public URL: https://hull-repository.worktribe.com/output/4861856