Organizational Sustainability through Circular Economy Principles: A Bibliometric Analysis of Research Evolution and Intellectual Structure

This study conducts a comprehensive bibliometric analysis of research at the intersection of circular economy principles and organizational sustainability to map the intellectual structure and evolution of this interdisciplinary field. We employed a multi-method bibliometric approach analyzing 411 publications from the Scopus database. The methodology combined performance analysis (publication trends, influential authors, journals, and countries) with science mapping techniques to reveal the conceptual structure and development of the field. The analysis reveals exponential growth in publications since 2016, with European institutions dominating research contributions. Five major thematic areas emerge: (1) conceptual integration of circular economy and sustainability paradigms, (2) circular business models and value creation, (3) supply chain and operations management for circularity, (4) organizational transformation and change management, and (5) performance measurement and impact assessment. The field has evolved from conceptual foundations toward implementation-focused research, with increasing attention to digital technologies as enablers. Social dimensions remain relatively underdeveloped compared to economic and environmental aspects. Our findings highlight theoretical contributions to understanding how circular economy principles can advance organizational sustainability across the triple bottom line. We identify significant limitations in current research, including geographic imbalance, methodological constraints, limited longitudinal studies, and underdeveloped social dimensions. The study outlines eight promising directions for future research: expanding geographic diversity, advancing methodological approaches, strengthening social dimension research, exploring digital transformation, investigating organizational capabilities, examining resilience connections, developing integrated theoretical frameworks, and exploring policy-practice interactions.