The Environmental Impact of Digital Marketplaces within the Circular Economy: A Framework

Sammanfattning: Digital marketplaces gained increased importance in the circular economy. Although their economic benefits are a popular subject in present literature, research is scarce on their environmental impact. Since economic motivations often collide with environmental motivations on digital marketplaces within the circular economy, rebound effects can occur. Therefore, it is crucial for companies to continuously evaluate the environmental value of their service. Consequently, this thesis aims at creating a framework to identify the environmental impact of digital marketplaces within the circular economy. Two important questions had to be answered in this research: How environmental impact assessment and user behavior can be combined to identify factors that influence the environmental impact of such digital marketplaces and how these factors can be incorporated into a framework. Based on a review of relevant literature on circular economy, environmental impact assessment and user behavior, a single case study was conducted on the digital marketplace of the urban logistics startup Tiptapp. Qualitative data was gathered by interviewing users. Respondents were divided into two groups depending on their role on the platform: ‘helpers’ (supply) and ‘advertisers’ (demand). The results indicated that mainly three factors influence the environmental impact: user behavior, user flow and direct interactions, and external factors. By designing the framework to outline the influencing factors and their relationship, an initial foundation has been built for digital marketplaces and their providers to evaluate the environmental impact of their services and to actively counteract concealed rebound effects. Future research is needed to facilitate generalizability of the proposed framework as well as data integration and accurate impact calculations.