Please use this identifier to cite or link to this item: https://hdl.handle.net/10419/330196 
Year of Publication: 
2025
Citation: 
[Journal:] R&D Management [ISSN:] 1467-9310 [Volume:] 55 [Issue:] 4 [Publisher:] Wiley [Place:] Hoboken, NJ [Year:] 2025 [Pages:] 1138-1160
Publisher: 
Wiley, Hoboken, NJ
Abstract: 
Innovation ecosystems (IE) are increasingly regarded as important vehicles for creating value from complex value propositions and addressing grand challenges through the development of a circular economy (CE). While current research emphasizes that inter‐organizational relationships can facilitate transformation toward a CE, this study enhances our understanding of collaboration in ecosystem emergence. We conducted an 18‐month ethnographic case study of an IE aimed at developing data‐driven CE solutions within the German automotive industry. This study sheds light on ecosystem dynamics by examining how the roles of partners within an IE evolve during the highly volatile emergence phase to maximize value creation. We uncover two role dimensions that differ in their temporal dynamics and offer an integrative process model of role evolution. Our study thereby contributes to the literature on role theory and CE ecosystems by outlining how partner firms collaborate in IEs to develop data‐driven CE solutions.
Subjects: 
circular economy
digital transformation
ecosystem emergence
ecosystem roles
innovation ecosystems
role dynamics
Persistent Identifier of the first edition: 
Creative Commons License: 
cc-by-nc-nd Logo
Document Type: 
Article
Document Version: 
Published Version

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