Circular Water Economy in Industrial and Urban Contexts: Sem Model on Organisational, Psychosocial and Institutional Factors that Condition the Implementation of Reuse Technologies

The global water crisis and the urgent need to transition to regenerative economic models position the circular water economy as a strategic axis for achieving the Sustainable Development Goals. This study analyses the associations between organisational, psychosocial and institutional factors and the implementation of water reuse technologies within circular economy frameworks in industrial and urban contexts. Using structural equation modelling (PLS-SEM), 150 organisational decision-makers in Lima, Trujillo and Cajamarca (Peru) were surveyed to test a multidimensional model that integrates the resource-based perspective, planned behaviour theory and institutional theory. The results reveal that external pressure (β = 0.345), the institutional framework (β = 0.287), organisational resources (β = 0.273) and organisational culture (β = 0.255) show positive associations with implementation, while individual attitudes unexpectedly show negative associations (β = -0.350). Implementation mediates all relationships with outcomes, explaining 82.3% of the variance in organisational outcomes. The inverse relationship between attitudes indicates that positive attitudes separated from structural capacity can produce resistance rather than adoption. This has implications for conventional wisdom about technology adoption and demonstrates that organisations in environments with weak institutional infrastructure resort to external rather than internal incentives, where implementation turns out to be the link between latent capabilities and measurable outcomes.