Barriers to the adoption of circular economy practices in Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises: Instrument development, measurement and validation: Barrier to the adoption of circular economy practices

The present study aims to develop, measure and validate an instrument for barriers to the adoption of circular economy practices in Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs). Using both inductive and deductive approaches, a scale was developed to assess barriers to the adoption of the circular economy practices. Then a structured and rigorous procedure was followed using the survey data of 269 participants selected from different industries in India. The measurement scales were tested and validated using exploratory factor analysis and structural equation modelling using IBM SPSS 26 and AMOS 26 tools. A competing model strategy was used to explore the most parsimonious measurement model that best fits the data. The results confirmed the existence of seven dimensions of barriers to the adoption of circular economy practices. The final instrument demonstrated a satisfactory level of reliability, convergent, discriminant and nomological validity. The instrument offers significant theoretical and managerial implications and is expected to assist scholars and practitioners in future empirical research.