Key deadlines
Opening date for manuscripts submissions: 01/10/2026
Closing date for manuscripts submission: 01/02/2027
Email for submissions: laura.dipietro@uniroma3.it
Guest Editors
Laura Di Pietro,
Roma Tre University, Italy,
laura.dipietro@uniroma3.it
Veronica Ungaro,
Roma Tre University, Italy,
veronica.ungaro@uniroma3.it
Samuel Petros Sebhatu,
Karlstad University, Sweden,
samuel.sebhatu@kau.se
Bo Edvardsson,
Karlstad University, Sweden,
bo.edvardsson@kau.se
Maria Francesca Renzi,
Roma Tre University, Italy,
mariafrancesca.renzi@uniroma3.it
Introduction
The circular economy (CE) has gained considerable attention as a model for decoupling economic activity from resource consumption and environmental degradation. CE represents an innovative social impact approach aimed at minimising waste and enhancing resource efficiency aligning with SDG 12 of the 2030 Agenda (Santiago et al., 2025; Awan and Sroufe, 2022). As defined by Kirchherr et al. (2017, p.9) CE “operates at the micro level (products, companies, consumers), meso level (eco-industrial parks) and macro level (city, region, nation and beyond), with the aim to accomplish sustainable development, thus simultaneously creating environmental quality, economic prosperity and social equity, to the benefit of current and future generations. The CE is enabled by novel business models and responsible consumers”. Yet the bulk of CE research and practice has concentrated on environmental and economic outcomes, leaving the social dimension comparatively underexplored (Padilla-Rivera et al., 2020). The social impact of circular practices (who benefits, who bears the costs, and how is value is distributed across society), remain insufficiently understood (Iofrida et al., 2024). This special issue seeks to address this problem by examining the social impact of the circular economy.
In framing this dimension, we draw on the definition of social impact in business research as the “creation of value for people through business scholarly activities, resulting in intentional improvements at the micro, meso, or macro level across economic, human, and environmental domains over time, with markets and organizations leading, partnering, supporting, or yielding to change” (Russell-Bennett and Reid, 2026, p. 5). Applying this lens to the circular economy invites us to ask not merely whether circular activities reduce environmental harm, but how, where, when, and for whom they create, or fail to create, social value, and what role organisations play in driving, co-creating, supporting, or absorbing that change.
Specifically, the issue aims to investigate three interrelated questions: 1. to examine the social impacts of CE between actors and across micro, meso, and macro levels in ecosystems; 2. to identify the social concepts related to the circular transition; and 3. to assess which models and frameworks can explain how these CE social concepts create social impact. These aims will be met by assembling conceptual, methodological, and empirical contributions that analyse who benefits, who bears the costs and how value is created or destroyed through circular practices. By foregrounding the principle that social evaluations must specify how, where, when, and for whom benefits and burdens arise, the issue will generate actionable insight into the social impact of a just, equitable, and inclusive circular transition.
Closely connected is the notion of a just transition: ensuring that the shift toward circularity is equitable and inclusive, and understanding how CE can safeguard social equity rather than reproduce or deepen existing inequalities. We are particularly interested in how circular practices shape social impact outcomes of human quality of life and wellbeing, and in how the circular transition might advance both human and planetary wellbeing. This includes the potential of CE to improve intra- and inter-generational equity, as well as equity between developed and developing countries.
This issue seeks to makes three novel contributions. First, the application of a business-research lens to impact, treating economic and environmental gains as pathways to human benefit rather than ends in themselves. Second, integration of the ‘just transition’ concept into CE research, linking circularity explicitly to social equity, intra- and inter-generational fairness, and equity between developed and developing countries. Third, advancing methodologies and frameworks for explaining and evaluating CE's social impact over time, an area lacking consolidated approaches and tools. Taken together, these contributions will move the field beyond documenting circular practices toward assessing their distributive and societal consequences for people, organisations and communities.
List of topic areas
We welcome conceptual, methodological, and empirical contributions addressing, but not limited to, the following themes:
Value co-creation and co-destruction in the circular economy — how circular configurations generate or erode value among the actors involved.
Decent work and workers (SDG 8) — education and reskilling needs, exposure to materials that may affect workers' health, and the creation or destruction of jobs within circular systems.
Circular ecosystems and their social effects — how the formation of circular ecosystems and networks reshapes social impact outcomes.
Technology — the impact of technologies developed for CE on firms and communities, and how technology may mitigate or, conversely, amplify social impacts.
Supply chain relocalisation — value creation for local communities versus the value destruction that relocalisation may entail.
Renewable energy — the adoption of renewable energy sources and its consequences for society.
Methodologies for assessing social impacts — the development of methods and metrics to evaluate the social impacts of the circular economy.
Health and safety — health gains from reduced pollution alongside the safety and health risks introduced by new production processes.
Convergence of circular business models, social enterprises, and social innovation — how circular models intersect with social entrepreneurship and innovation.
Resource rationalisation — its effects on pollution reduction, territorial regeneration, and the social cost of waste and disposal, and the resulting inter- and intra-generational benefits.
Impacts of the circular economy in service systems — examining how circular principles applied to services influence value creation, resource efficiency, and societal outcomes.
Submissions Information
Submissions are made using ScholarOne Manuscripts. Registration and access are available at: https://mc.manuscriptcentral.com/jsibr
Author guidelines must be strictly followed. Please see: https://www.emerald.com/jsibr
Submitted articles must not have been previously published, nor should they be under consideration for publication anywhere else, while under review for this journal.
