Stamped For Circularity: Digital Product Passports And The Affordances Of Digital Lifecycle Managing
Paper Number
ECIS2026-2749
Paper Type
SP
Abstract
Amid the broader twin transition of sustainability and digitalisation, digital product passports (DPPs) are emerging as key digital innovations for advancing circular economy practices by providing detailed product information across lifecycle stages. We argue that, through appropriate design—such as interactive features and integration with services—DPPs can enable users to act as “resource stewards”, supporting responsible pre-use, in-use, and post-use decisions. Drawing on affordance theory, we offer a preliminary conceptualisation of digital lifecycle managing affordances, highlighting the action potentials that emerge in relations among actors, digital artefacts, and institutional contexts across the full product lifecycle. This perspective extends prior work on perceived disposal control as a product affordance. Our conceptual lens advances research on affordances and digital sustainability by illustrating how DPP design can foster sustainable lifecycle practices, and by providing a foundation for future information systems research on digitally mediated resource stewardship.
Recommended Citation
Maurer, Hannah Tamara and Buchbauer, Tim, "Stamped For Circularity: Digital Product Passports And The Affordances Of Digital Lifecycle Managing" (2026). ECIS 2026 Proceedings. 20.
https://aisel.aisnet.org/ecis2026/is_resil/isresilience/20
Stamped For Circularity: Digital Product Passports And The Affordances Of Digital Lifecycle Managing
Amid the broader twin transition of sustainability and digitalisation, digital product passports (DPPs) are emerging as key digital innovations for advancing circular economy practices by providing detailed product information across lifecycle stages. We argue that, through appropriate design—such as interactive features and integration with services—DPPs can enable users to act as “resource stewards”, supporting responsible pre-use, in-use, and post-use decisions. Drawing on affordance theory, we offer a preliminary conceptualisation of digital lifecycle managing affordances, highlighting the action potentials that emerge in relations among actors, digital artefacts, and institutional contexts across the full product lifecycle. This perspective extends prior work on perceived disposal control as a product affordance. Our conceptual lens advances research on affordances and digital sustainability by illustrating how DPP design can foster sustainable lifecycle practices, and by providing a foundation for future information systems research on digitally mediated resource stewardship.