Decoupling Economic Growth From Material Use: A Bibliometric Review and Research Agenda for Business Management Scholarship

Abstract

The imperative to decouple economic growth from resource consumption sits at the heart of current sustainability research, yet the role of businesses in this process has barely been explored. This paper presents a bibliometric analysis of 251 documents from the Web of Science (1998–2025) examining decoupling, the circular economy and material flow analysis. Drawing on co‐citation networks, keyword co‐occurrence, thematic mapping, bibliographic coupling and thematic evolution analysis using the Bibliometrix package in R, we map the intellectual structure and research dynamics of this domain. Three intellectual clusters emerge—planetary boundaries and degrowth, empirical decoupling analysis and social metabolism—alongside two active research fronts, whose intellectual core does not include authors primarily affiliated with business management. This is the central finding of the paper. We are dealing with a domain that has grown at a compound annual rate of 12.66% over nearly three decades, yet has done so without the systematic engagement of business management scholarship. Emerging topics—such as recycling, digital platforms and circular business models—point toward a future convergence. This review offers a business‐oriented bibliometric synthesis of the field and proposes a five‐strand research agenda for management scholars.