Domination of Managerial and Technical Frames : How the Circular Economy Is Reported in Finnish Business
Abstract
Our research combines two research fields—the circular economy (CE) and sustainability reporting. Previous CE literature has focused on economic and environmental aspects, while the focus on social aspects has been rare. In the field of sustainability reporting, research on CE reporting is lacking. We address this gap. Our data consist of 32 sustainability reports from large Finnish companies. We applied frame analysis to the reports and found that CE reporting varies from none to moderate. Furthermore, we identified three different frames of CE reporting: CE management, technical CE and social CE. The management and technical frames dominate our data. This study contributes to the prior literature on CE reporting by showing how CE is positively framed in sustainability reports but lacks indications of the systematic change that is considered the core of CE in its previous conceptualisations. To achieve strong sustainability, companies urgently need to change the ways in which they operate.
Main Authors
Format
Articles
Research article
Published
2023
Series
Subjects
Publication in research information system
Publisher
Springer Nature
The permanent address of the publication
https://urn.fi/URN:NBN:fi:jyu-202401121241Use this for linking
Review status
Peer reviewed
ISSN
2730-597X
DOI
https://doi.org/10.1007/s43615-023-00335-5
Language
English
Published in
Circular Economy and Sustainability
Citation
- Mäkelä, M., & Onkila, T. (2023). Domination of Managerial and Technical Frames : How the Circular Economy Is Reported in Finnish Business. Circular Economy and Sustainability, Early online. https://doi.org/10.1007/s43615-023-00335-5
Funder(s)
Research Council of Finland
Funding program(s)
Strategic research programmes, AoF
Strategisen tutkimuksen ohjelmat STN, SA

Additional information about funding
Open Access funding provided by University of Jyväskylä (JYU). This work was funded by the Strategic Research Council at the Academy of Finland under Grant (320205).
Copyright© The Author(s) 2023