Toward Digitalized Circular Economy Practices: Examining the Nexus Between Customer and Technical Requirements

The adoption of circular economy ( CE ) practices has become indispensable for countries worldwide to minimize the adverse environmental impacts of waste. Digital platforms for CE practices have been anticipated to improve societal involvement. However, existing digital platforms for CE practices have failed to enhance such involvement. This study investigates the customer requirements (CRs) that improve societal involvement in CE practices through digital platforms and the technical requirements (TRs) needed to meet them. An integrated Fermatean fuzzy set (FFS)–analytic hierarchy process (AHP)–decision‐making trial and evaluation laboratory (DEMATEL)–quality function deployment (QFD) method was employed to determine the weight significance and to reveal the causal interrelationship among the CSFs, and to rank the TRs. The findings indicate that “Actual impact assessment systems,” “Integrated service support,” “Sustainability rewards,” “Opportunity for entrepreneurship,” and “Provision of digital product passport” are the top five CSFs, while “Automated Support System” and “Integrated Payment Gateway” are the important TRs. The findings of this study could help in enhancing the digital platforms for CE practices, which could increase societal involvement.