Towards a circular economy through collaborative environmental practices: evidence from literature and empirical studies in green supply chain management

Collaboration plays a pivotal role in realizing CE by facilitating the implementation of practices like resource reduction, eco-design, reuse, remanufacturing, and recycling.<br><br>This study offers a comprehensive exploration of collaborative approaches within the CE context.<br><br>The thesis consists of a systematic literature review (SLR) and an empirical study.

SLR is conducted to gain an understanding of typical CE practices, types of collaborations, and collaboration spheres in developed and developing countries. Gaps identified in the SLR guided a deeper investigation of issues relevant to developing countries like Jordan. The development of green supply chains and the influence of power on environmental collaboration and green supply chain practices were identified as important academic-, practice- and policy-relevant issues.<br><br>Grounded in existing literature, as well as on the natural-resource-based view and signalling theory, the study developed 16 hypotheses, which were tested empirically via survey and analysed by using the Structural Equations Modelling technique.<br><br>The study reveals that 1) Collaboration between manufacturers and suppliers is vital for the adoption of CE and green practices and that it enhances both economic and environmental performance for manufacturers.