Examining the role of procurement 4.0 towards remanufacturing operations and circular economy

Abstract

Procurement digitalisation can provide significant opportunities for excellence in remanufacturing operations. The close attention of firms is required during the configuration of procurement 4.0 resources for applying front end and base technologies in order to develop the correct set of these resources. Based on Resource Based View theory, this research examines the role of resources influencing procurement 4.0 for driving productivity in remanufacturing operations and circular economy performance. The survey data for this research was gathered from working professionals in South Africa and results reveal that technological resources are necessary in procurement 4.0, which can, in turn, improve productivity in remanufacturing operations. An upsurge in performance in remanufacturing operations can enhance the circular economy outcome. To the best of our knowledge, this study is the first to provide insight for researchers, practitioners and academics with an empirical test of digital procurement on remanufacturing operations and of circular economy performance in an emerging economy like South Africa.

Keywords:

• Procurement 4.0
• circular economy
• digital procurement
• emerging economy
• Resource Based View theory

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Surajit Bag

Surajit Bag (Ph.D.) is an Associate Professor in the Department of Transport and Supply Chain Management, School of Management, College of Business and Economics at the University of Johannesburg, South Africa. He holds a PhD in Logistics and Supply Chain Management from the University of Petroleum & Energy Studies, India. He has attended Management Development Program (MDP) in Multivariate data analysis from Indian Institute of Technology, Kharagpur. He has also attended Management Development Program in Operations Research from Banaras Hindu University. He has got more than eleven years of industry experience. His areas of research interest are Industrial supply chain automation, Industry 4.0, Buyer-Supplier relationship, Supply chain process optimization and Business excellence. He has attended several National and International conferences and has published in ABDC and ABS listed journals. He is the proud recipient of “AIMS-IRMA Young Management Researcher Award 2016” for his significant contribution towards management research.

Pavitra Dhamija

Pavitra Dhamija (Ph.D.) is a Post-Doctoral Research Fellow at Department of Industrial Psychology and People Management, College of Business and Economics, University of Johannesburg, South Africa. She holds a PhD in the area of Management from PEC University of Technology, India. Her research interest areas comprise of human behaviour, emotional labour, sustainability, quality of work life, supply chain management, job satisfaction, and Industry 4.0. Previously, she has been associated with the institutes of repute in India on various teaching and research assignments that includes Indian Institute of Management Rohtak (IIM-R), Indian Institute of Technology Delhi (IIT-D), Chitkara University, and Maharaja Agrasen University.

Shivam Gupta

Shivam Gupta (Ph.D.) is an Associate Professor at NEOMA Business School, France with a demonstrated history of working in the higher education industry. Skilled in Statistics, Cloud Computing, Big Data Analytics, Artificial Intelligence and Sustainability. Strong education professional with a Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) focussed in Cloud Computing and Operations Management from Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Kanpur. Followed by PhD, postdoctoral research was pursued at Freie Universität Berlin and SUSTech, China. He has completed HDR from University of Montpellier, France. He has published several research papers in reputed journals and has been the recipient of the International Young Scientist Award by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (NSFC) in 2017 and winner of the 2017 Emerald South Asia LIS award.

Uthayasankar Sivarajah

Uthayasankar Sivarajah (Ph.D.) is a Professor of Technology Management and Circular Economy at the School of Management at University of Bradford, United Kingdom. He is currently the Head of School of Management (Interim) and the Head of Business Analytics, Circular Economy and Supply Chain (BACES) Research Centre. He is also part of the University’s Research Practice Innovation Group led by the Pro-Vice-Chancellor (Research and Knowledge Transfer) to help shape the university’s research and innovation (R&I) strategy. His current and evolving research interests include exploring the role of digital technologies in the context of circular economy, sustainable supply chain management and public sector innovation and transformation. He actively publishes in leading high impact factor journals such as Journal of Business Research, Computers in Human Behaviour and Government Information Quarterly.