Embracing LCA: Understanding and facilitating adoption in manufacturing firms

Companies increasingly apply Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) to assess the environmental impact of products. A broad body of literature exists on applying product-level LCA that identifies drivers and barriers. However, a more systemic and theoretical insight into its adoption in manufacturing companies is largely lacking. We fill this gap by conceptualizing LCA implementation as innovation adoption over different stages. We do so by literature review and a cross-case analysis of nine manufacturing companies.

Drivers and barriers from the literature are mapped, and the cases validate their current relevance. LCA as innovation shows strong compatibility with company internal and external drivers, which suggests a shift compared to findings in the literature. Barriers are mainly complexity, lack of data, and practical constraints. Subsequently, a conceptual model is constructed following Rogers' diffusion model. It shows how companies gradually acquire the knowledge and skills to apply and interpret LCA and subsequently institutionalize and integrate it into the regular company activities, as well as the required support, guidance, and means to make it through subsequent stages. A prescriptive design science approach translates this into guidelines for companies on how to start and increase adoption. Managers and policymakers can draw from this general insight to support the implementation of LCA.

While this research shows diffusion theory's theoretical and practical relevance, insights are limited by the qualitative and explorative approach as well as by the limitations of diffusion theory. Further validation and differentiation can help to understand the influence of external context, internal company characteristics, and integration with broader business management and transition studies.