How do business-to-business actors experience circular solutions? Uncovering the interplay between experience, interaction, and adaptation in the case of concrete element reuse

Abstract

The circular economy (CE) is a systemic effort requiring business-to-business (B2B) actors to adopt circular principles to enable loop-closing through collaboration. A crucial, yet unstudied, perspective is the individual B2B actors' experiences of circular solutions in interorganizational collaborations aiming to promote the CE. Therefore, this study examines diverse B2B actors' multidimensional experiences of circular solutions and how such experiences shape actors' interactions and adaptations. We leverage research on customer experience, CE business, and interactions and adaptations in business relationships and conduct a qualitative case study in the construction industry where diverse B2B actors from a value chain collaborate to increase circularity by reusing concrete elements. As our contribution, we 1) uncover B2B actors' multidimensional experiences of circular solutions manifested along cognitive, affective, behavioral, social, and sensory dimensions and identify their triggers; and 2) show how B2B actors' experiences of circular solutions shape their interactions and lead to four adaptation forms at different levels. The findings are synthesized into a conceptual model that displays the interplay between B2B actors' experiences, interactions, and adaptations in interorganizational settings. Our findings highlight the importance of B2B actors' experiences in catalyzing the adoption of CE principles by companies in interorganizational collaborations.