Waste Matters: Change agents' engagement in circular economy transformation

Funded by the Foundation for Economic Education (Finland), the project (1.8.2020-31.7.2023) aims to analyse how various change agents engage in transformation toward Circular Economy (CE) business ecosystems.

The research questions of the project include:

• How can change agents encourage the diffusion of sustainable waste related practices?
• What kind of framing efforts can be identified when turning waste into value?
• How are sustainable value propositions (SVPs) created for various stakeholders?
• How can digital devices (e.g. smartphone apps or digital platforms) facilitate the shift towards CE ecosystems?

In the project, in-depth understanding of consumers and other change agents in circular economy will be created. These change agents will be examined in a wider institutional context. We study the various business opportunities created by circular economy especially from the point of view of change agents.

Most important publications:

Mesiranta, N., Närvänen, E., Luukkonen, R., & Kaivonen, I. (2021). Social media influencers educating consumers on sustainable fashion in NA - Advances in Consumer Research Volume 49, eds. Tonya Williams Bradford, Anat Keinan, and Matthew Matthew Thomson, Duluth, MN : Association for Consumer Research, Pages: 87-90. https://www.acrwebsite.org/volumes/v49/acr_vol49_3000782.pdf

Mesiranta, N., Närvänen, E., & Mattila, M. (2022). Framings of food waste: How food system stakeholders are responsibilized in public policy debate. Journal of Public Policy & Marketing 41 (2), 144-161. https://doi.org/10.1177/07439156211005722

Närvänen, E., Mattila, M., Keränen, J., Kaivonen, I. & Nurminen, M. (2022). Framing value propositions in the food waste business: A sociocultural approach. Industrial Marketing Management, 105, 211-222. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.indmarman.2022.06.008

Närvänen, E., Mattila, M. & Mesiranta, N. (2021). Institutional work in food waste reduction: Start-ups' role in moving towards a circular economy. Industrial Marketing Management, 91, 605–616. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.indmarman.2020.08.009

Foundation for Economic Education (Finland)