Competitive strategy and circular economy practice implementation toward corporate sustainability performance

Abstract The impact of competitive strategy on corporate sustainability and the role of circular economy (CE) practices remains scanty in the extant literature. This study therefore examines the mediating role of CE practices on the relationship between competitive strategy and sustainability performance. Drawing on the natural resource‐based view (NRBV) theory and institutional logics (IL) theory, this study explores a framework that introduces competitive strategy as an antecedent variable in advancing CE practices and sustainability performance among firms in a developing economy. Using data obtained through a survey of 380 firms in Ghana, the results revealed that competitive strategy has a positive and statistically significant relationship with corporate sustainability performance. Additionally, CE practices mediate the positive association between competitive strategy and corporate sustainability. Our research extends the frontiers of the literature by combining the IL and NRBV theories to explain how competitive strategy influences sustainability performance via CE practices.