Implementing Circularity in Organizations by Navigating Institutional Plurality

Tom B. J. Coenen, Nicolaj Frederiksen, Leentje Volker and Klaasjan Visscher

Business Strategy and the Environment, 2025, vol. 34, issue 8, 10059-10076

Abstract: The move towards a circular economy (CE) urges organizations to integrate CE principles into their core processes. This implementation creates tensions between existing institutional configurations and the pressures imposed by redefined principles. By applying an institutional logics framework on an in‐depth case study of a Dutch infrastructure agency, we aim to increase our understanding of how hybrid organizations navigate the transformation to the CE. We specifically examine how the organization manages tensions between existing and emerging institutional logics and found that the interactions among state, project, asset management and societal challenge logics interact in the organization's transformation process. The findings show an organizational shift from a compartmentalization strategy towards a blending strategy, which indicates the need to reconsider organizational structures, roles and processes to foster the systemic changes needed for the organizational implementation of circularity.

Date: 2025
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