Abstract
A growing body of scholarship has examined circular business models as a pathway towards sustainability. However, employee skills to support such business models have been largely overlooked. Addressing this research gap, this article proposes a comprehensive skill taxonomy for start-ups embracing circular economy transition. As the first large-N effort to develop a comprehensive skill taxonomy for circular business model implementation, this study uses a clustering analysis of self-reported skill profiles for 2407 staff working in circular start-ups. The taxonomy outlines 40 skills across six categories: business innovation, operations, social dimensions, systems, digitization, and technical issues. Findings suggest that circular business model implementation requires a set of general, sustainable, and circular skills, but some of these skills have been neglected in scholarship. Promoting circular narratives as a framing device for skill development can help advance CE towards mainstream uptake, and this study's taxonomy offers a practical framework for using talent to accelerate CE transition.
| Original language | English |
|---|---|
| Article number | 137027 |
| Number of pages | 29 |
| Journal | Journal of Cleaner Production |
| Volume | 410 |
| DOIs | |
| Publication status | Published - Jul 2023 |
Bibliographical note
Funding Information:A stronger effort by businesses is needed to identify and develop circular thinking among all employees. CBM implementation is influenced by decisions across all business functions including in strategic management, marketing, logistics, digital and finance – and execution of these functions from upper management to the ‘ground level.’ This holistic perspective is under-recognized but has the potential to support novel thinking about CBM implementation and the employee skills needed for it. Circular narratives (through circular storytelling) can promote understanding and recognition of circular skills among the employee base and beyond, enabling wider CE transition towards the mainstream.
Publisher Copyright:
© 2023 The Authors
Funding
A stronger effort by businesses is needed to identify and develop circular thinking among all employees. CBM implementation is influenced by decisions across all business functions including in strategic management, marketing, logistics, digital and finance – and execution of these functions from upper management to the ‘ground level.’ This holistic perspective is under-recognized but has the potential to support novel thinking about CBM implementation and the employee skills needed for it. Circular narratives (through circular storytelling) can promote understanding and recognition of circular skills among the employee base and beyond, enabling wider CE transition towards the mainstream.
Keywords
- Capabilities
- Circular business models
- Circular economy
- Skill taxonomy
- Skills
- Sustainability
