ABSTRACT
The present research proposes a model to investigate the influence of institutional pressures on the adoption of circular economy (CE) principles, whether Industry 4.0 technologies support this adoption, and its effect on the performance of firms. To evaluate these relationships, we collected data from 248 companies operating in Brazil. Our findings reveal the importance of external stakeholders as drivers of the transition from the linear economy to CE, highlighting the normative pressures to foster CE adoption. The study brings additional evidence in support of Industry 4.0 technologies that embrace CE implementation and shows the positive effect of their integrated adoption on firm performance. Several managerial and theoretical implications emerge from this investigation: (i) efforts to adopt both CE principles and Industry 4.0 technologies positively impact the performance of firms, and CE implementation can be facilitated when integrated with these technologies; (ii) the institutional context shaped by normative and coercive pressures can have a significant influence on CE adoption; (iii) the discussion of these novel results posits theoretical insights on CE, Industry 4.0, and their relationships with firm performance.
ABSTRACT
While the potential benefits of integrating digital technologies and supply chain management have been widely reported, less is known concerning the current state-of-the-art literature on big data-driven sustainable supply chains. Therefore, this study aims to systematise published studies which address the implications of big data for sustainable supply chain management. Through a systematic literature review, this work makes three significant contributions: (a) it provides an overview of extant literature on this topic in recent years; (b) it proposes seven gaps in the literature in order to foster future investigations on big data-driven sustainable supply chains; (c) it offers four lessons for business practitioners aiming to use big data for sustainable supply chain practices. These lessons suggest that: developing big data analytics capability has to become a business priority in order to effectively build competitive sustainable supply chains; big data has benefits for each of the dimensions of the triple-bottom-line in supply chains; the implementation of big data for sustainability in supply chains presents some challenges for firms; the development of complementary organizational capabilities is needed to overcome challenges and facilitate the benefits of big data technology for sustainable supply chain management.