Abstract
Organizations and even entire industries rethink their processes to align them with principles of circularity. Data is a key driver in the transformation toward a circular economy. Digitalization opens up a vast solution space of new design opportunities for this transformation but also leads to possible tensions between those opportunities. We seek to advance our understanding of the tensions and challenges faced regarding data in the circular economy. Therefore, we conducted 17 interviews with experts from the automotive industry – one of the world's leading industries directly affected by the ongoing transformation – to collect possible issues from a data viewpoint. Based on 274 distinct statements (codes), we employed a dialectical inquiry approach and derived four main tensions concerning the role of data. Our results create awareness of trade-offs and support decision-making, contribute to organizations’ transformation toward a circular economy, and help to foster sustainability.
Recommended Citation
Hoppe, Christoph; Winkelmann, Stephanie; Petrik, Dimitri; Schoormann, Thorsten; and Möller, Frederik, "Data Tensions in the Circular Economy: Empirical Insights from the Automotive Industry" (2024). Wirtschaftsinformatik 2024 Proceedings. 45.
https://aisel.aisnet.org/wi2024/45