The transition from a linear economy towards a circular economy (CE), based on reusing, repairing, refurbishing, and recycling existing materials and products, is one of the key priorities in pursuing Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), where governments play a fundamental role, with the support of digital technologies.

Despite the increasing global policy focus on CE, research on the role of digital government in initiating, implementing, and consolidating a transition towards a circular economy is surprisingly scarce and fragmented, and a systematic effort in digital government research is yet to emerge.

To tackle this issue, this article sets out to answer the research question: what is the role of digital government in the transition towards a circular economy? Driven by this research question, we conduct a review on 88 empirical studies in the Information Systems (IS) and digital government fields and discuss existing research foci and gaps in relation to the types of digital technologies used, the types of stakeholders involved, the stages of the product life cycle, and the type of resources that governments draw on to advance the circular economy transition. In addition, we identify two types of transition styles, based on an analysis of the types of roles taken by the government in two cases of transition towards a circular economy.

Based on these findings, we provide two contributions to establishing a new line of research in digital government and the circular economy: an analytical framework, including a static view, a longitudinal view, and a transition style view of the role of digital government in the circular economy transition; and a research agenda that builds on our framework, to guide future research on the role of digital government in the circular economy transition.@en

Circular economy is high on the political agenda, with governments at all levels setting ambitious goals to move away from traditional linear production models, where goods are used and disposed as waste, towards a future with less use of virgin raw materials, and where valuable materials at a product end-of-life are returned as raw materials or in an environmentally-friendly way to the biosphere. While circular economy is gaining a lot of attention on a policy level, the role that digital government can play to facilitate the circular economy transition is largely unexplored. We carry out a review of existing literature in the fields of digital government and Information Systems (IS) to identify the roles played by digital government in the circular economy. Based on an analysis of 54 empirical research articles, we identify foci and gaps in relation to the different types of roles played by government (nodality, authority, treasure, and organization), to stages of the Product Life Cycle (preuse, in-use, and post-use), and to types of digital technology focused on. Based on these findings, we present an analytical framework to guide future research on digital government in relation to the circular economy, and exemplify the use of the framework drawing on examples from circular economy initiatives in the automotive industry. @en