The Dual Brokerage Role of Digital Platforms in the Transition to a Circular Economy

Abstract

The transition to a circular economy hinges on effective brokerage—the work of intermediaries in connecting innovative closed-loop recyclers (the niche) with the established waste network (the regime). While brokerage theory and its classicaltertius iungens/gaudenstypology explain how a broker's strategic intent shapes their behaviors, it offers limited insight into how brokers operate at the niche-regime interface, a context defined by inherent tensions. This inductive study of a digital platform intermediary in the post-industrial textile waste contexts of Bangladesh and India addresses this by theorizing brokerage as a set of tension-derived strategies. Our empirical findings identify three tensions: network structure, operational capability, and socially sustainable capability tensions. We then show how the platform addresses these tensions through a dual role:structural brokerage, via semi-disintermediation, andcapability brokerage, via standardization and legitimization. In addition, the platform engages in identity work to overcome its own challenge of being a new network actor. We contribute a novelcontingent perspectiveon brokerage by unpacking a broker's response to inherent tensions in a transition period. The research also shows how technology-based intermediaries can be deployed to manage reverse flows, and it furthers understanding of how informal actors can be integrated into formal supply chains.