Paper Number
ICIS2025-2447
Paper Type
Complete
Abstract
As digital infrastructures gain prominence in circular economy transitions, digital product passports (DPPs) have emerged as key tools for enabling product traceability and lifecycle management. This study presents the design and evaluation of a DPP prototype for the furniture sector, developed using Design Science Research and grounded in socio-technical systems and digital infrastructure theory. Through iterative stakeholder engagement, the study identifies key challenges in usability, interoperability, and participation in non-connected product environments. The resulting high-fidelity prototype supports transparency, repair facilitation, and role-specific decision-making across the lifecycle. Five socio-technical design principles are derived from this process, extending socio-technical theory to include infrastructural adaptability, embedded trust mechanisms, and continuous stakeholder co-design. The research contributes to the Information Systems field by conceptualizing DPPs as evolving socio-technical infrastructures and offers actionable guidance for designing sustainable, user-centric systems that go beyond compliance to support circular economy objectives.
Recommended Citation
Krüger, Kim; Li, Wenxuan; Böttcher, Timo Phillip; and Krcmar, Helmut, "Beyond Compliance: Designing Digital Product Passports as Socio-Technical Infrastructures for Circular Economies" (2025). ICIS 2025 Proceedings. 17.
https://aisel.aisnet.org/icis2025/sustain/sustain/17
Beyond Compliance: Designing Digital Product Passports as Socio-Technical Infrastructures for Circular Economies
As digital infrastructures gain prominence in circular economy transitions, digital product passports (DPPs) have emerged as key tools for enabling product traceability and lifecycle management. This study presents the design and evaluation of a DPP prototype for the furniture sector, developed using Design Science Research and grounded in socio-technical systems and digital infrastructure theory. Through iterative stakeholder engagement, the study identifies key challenges in usability, interoperability, and participation in non-connected product environments. The resulting high-fidelity prototype supports transparency, repair facilitation, and role-specific decision-making across the lifecycle. Five socio-technical design principles are derived from this process, extending socio-technical theory to include infrastructural adaptability, embedded trust mechanisms, and continuous stakeholder co-design. The research contributes to the Information Systems field by conceptualizing DPPs as evolving socio-technical infrastructures and offers actionable guidance for designing sustainable, user-centric systems that go beyond compliance to support circular economy objectives.
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04-Sustainability