Abstract
The circular economy (CE) offers a promising alternative to traditional linear models but requires systemic reorientation towards circular value cocreation. Within service ecosystems, actors rely on institutional arrangements to integrate resources and cocreate value. To effectively implement a reorientation towards circularity, actors conduct circularity work – efforts undertaken by actors within service ecosystems to enable, cultivate, and legitimize institutions supporting circular value cocreation. Through 18 semi-structured interviews and supplementary data, this study identifies three interconnected types of circularity work: (1) Enabling: focused on implementing and operationalizing circular practices within service ecosystems; (2) Cultivating: aimed at creating the foundation for circular practices by aiding actors to participate; and (3) Legitimizing: aimed at establishing circular practices as appropriate and desirable, embedding them within existing institutional structures. By providing a framework illustrating how actors enact circularity work to foster circularity, we advance the understanding of transitions toward circular value cocreation in service ecosystems. Lastly, we give directions for future research to support circular value cocreation.
