# An Exploration of Circular Economy Practices and Performance Among Romanian Producers
## 3 Research Methodology
### Research Variables and Instruments  
There were three variables included in this study. The first, green-oriented supply chain cooperation (GSCC), assesses the level of integrating environmental concern of a producer into its supply chain by engaging both upstream partners (suppliers) through green purchasing practices (GPP) and downstream partners (clients) through cooperation with clients (CC) to create environmental-friendly products, processes and foster \"loop-closure\".  
The second variable is comprised of the three major components of the CE, namely, (a) ecological product design (ECO) where the producer manages the product design process with an environmental-oriented approach; (b) internal environmental management (IEM) where the internal commitment to environmental issues is measured by appraising the tools and processes which foster a circular approach, and (c) practices related to return on investment (IR).  
The third variable we included in our study was CE targeted performance and was composed of the two major dimensions namely, the ecological performance and the economic performance. This, in turn, would indicate the performance improvements Romanian producers would be expecting from the implementation of CE practices.  
Our research design followed the literature outlined above, mainly the research efforts of [PERSON], [PERSON] and [PERSON] who developed an excellent framework composed of 16 items which assess a manufacturer's orientation towards environmental collaboration within its LSC, 19 items for assessing CE practices, and 11 items for assessing CE ecological and economic performance among Chinese producers [46]. In order to reach the goals of this research and to verify the research hypotheses, a selective quantitative research was used with a questionnaire as a tool. Beginning with their framework [46] and cross-referencing it with Romanian macroeconomic data, we developed the list of items for our questionnaire. The items next underwent the evaluation of five specialists to ensure their validity and suitability for the Romanian context and to confirm ease of understanding by potential respondents. Following this process, we selected 10 items to measure the implementation of green-oriented supply chain cooperation (GSCC) practices by Romanian manufacturers. Out of the 10, 5 items were intended to measure the environmental orientation in the relationship with their suppliers (green purchasing--GP) and 5 items were intended to measure the relationship with their customers. For the measurement of CE practices, we utilized 5 items to assess ecologic product design (ECO), 5 items to assess the implementation of internal environmental management (IEM) practices and 5 items for investment recovery practices (IR). For the CE internal performance measurement, we employed 5 items to measure ecologic performance and 5 items to measure economic performance. All questions were arranged in a survey containing 3 parts: first, an eligibility item was incorporated to ensure only respondents with production activities participate in the survey. The second part of the questionnaire included the items assessing GSCC, CE practices and CE-targeted performance. The 25 items measuring GSCC and CE practices were designed to collect data on a 5-point scale measuring the frequency of implementation of the practices with 1 = never; 2 = sometimes 3 = so and so, 4 = often, 5 = always). The 10 items regarding CE-targeted performance were operationalized also using a 5-point scale measuring the extent to which performance has been achieved in the last year where 1 = not at all, 2 = small degree, 3 = moderated degree, 4 = high degree, 5 = very high degree. The third part of the questionnaire was designed to collect data at the organizational level regarding industry, turnover, number of employees, form of ownership and individual data regarding gender, age, and the position held in the company.