Call for paper: Managing Digital Transformation for Circular and Sustainable Business: Strategies, Systems and Impact

Managing Digital Transformation for Circular and Sustainable Business: Strategies, Systems and Impact

In the face of accelerating environmental degradation, climate change, and growing resource scarcity, the transition toward sustainable and circular business models has become a strategic imperative for organizations worldwide. Simultaneously, digital transformation is reshaping industries, unlocking new ways to create, deliver, and capture value. At the intersection of these two transformative forces lies a promising frontier: leveraging digital technologies not just for efficiency or innovation, but to radically redefine how businesses operate in alignment with sustainability and circular economy principles.

The focus extends beyond technological deployment to include governance models, stakeholder engagement, data-driven decision-making, and the organizational capabilities needed to manage this dual transformation. Digital technologies such as the Internet of Things (IoT), Artificial Intelligence (AI), blockchain, big data analytics, and cloud computing are increasingly being applied to enable closed-loop systems, optimize resource use, extend product lifecycles, and improve supply chain transparency.

However, these developments raise critical questions:

How can digital transformation be guided to avoid unintended rebound effects or exacerbate inequalities?
What strategies and competencies are needed to align digital initiatives with circular economy objectives?
How can performance be measured and governed across diverse organizational contexts?

The special issue welcomes both conceptual and empirical contributions that address these questions from various disciplinary perspectives, including but not limited to management, industrial engineering, information systems, sustainability science, and operations. By bringing together cutting-edge research and practical insights, this special issue aims to contribute to a deeper understanding of how organizations can effectively manage digital transformation in service of a more circular and sustainable economy. It aspires to shape future academic inquiry and support the development of actionable knowledge for business leaders, policymakers, and change agents navigating this critical transition.

List of topic areas

Strategic integration of digital and circular economy goals
Digital tools enabling sustainable product and service design
Data-driven sustainability performance management
Organizational capabilities and barriers to dual transformation
Digital supply chains and resource traceability
Business model innovation for circularity and sustainability
Ecosystems and multi-stakeholder collaboration platforms
Case studies from manufacturing, logistics, services, or smart cities
Metrics and impact assessment frameworks for sustainable digital innovation

Submissions Information

This special issues follows a two-step submission process:

Abstract Submissions:
Authors are invited to submit their abstracts to the guest editors at alfonso.marino@unicampania.it by October 27, 2025. Abstracts will be reviewed to ensure alignment with the special issue’s theme, and authors of selected abstracts will be invited to submit full manuscripts.
Full Manuscript Submissions:
Once invited, authors should submit their full manuscripts via ScholarOne Manuscripts. Full manuscripts must adhere to the journal’s submission guidelines.

Author guidelines must be strictly followed. Please see here.

Authors should select (from the drop-down menu) the special issue title at the appropriate step in the submission process, i.e. in response to ““Please select the issue you are submitting to”.

Submitted articles must not have been previously published, nor should they be under consideration for publication anywhere else, while under review for this journal.