Consumption in the Circular Economy: Learning from Our Mistakes

Abstract

The Circular Economy (CE) is gaining increasing attention among businesses, policymakers and academia, and across research disciplines. While the concept’s strong diffusion may be considered its main strength, it has also contributed to the emergence of many different understandings and definitions, which may hinder or slow down its success. Specifically, despite growing attention, the role of the consumption side in the CE remains a largely under-researched topic. In the present review, we first search the literature by means of snowball mapping and a systematic key-word strategy, and then critically analyze the identified sources in order to elucidate the fundamental elements that should characterize consumption in a CE. We extract two pillars, directly from definition, that should be at the nucleus of future research on consumption in the CE: (1) the hierarchical nature of circular strategies, with “reduce” being preferred to all other strategies; and (2) the inadequacy of defining the CE only through its loops or strategies without considering its goal of attaining sustainable development. Moreover, the discussion is placed within the extant consumer research streams deemed relevant, in order to bridge these with the context of the CE. We highlight limitations of said research streams regarding their typical focus on the quality (and not the quantity) of consumption, the lack of heterogeneity in the theories and data collection methods employed, and the non-impact-based instruments typically used to measure consumption behaviors. We show how these limitations have contributed to the emergence of the intention–behavior gap, a phenomenon extant studies identify as key to overcome for encouraging sustainable consumption practices. In particular, we focus the analysis on the intention–behavior gap in order to: (1) establish the state-of-the-art; and (2) uncover avenues for future research addressing extant limitations.

Measuring consumer effort in circular economy initiatives in the food domain: An exploratory analysis

“…The negative response of consumers to the new pattern of circular offering could represent a strong barrier; consumer's approval is indeed crucial for the success of small and medium companies that have launched circular projects [ 64 ]. Certainly, the key to success of CE initiatives implies radical changes and depends on consumers' availability to modify their routine behaviour in different stages [ 19 , 29 ], which entails, most of the time, an active engagement and a certain level of consumers' effort [ 19 ]. Nevertheless, in some cases consumers completely refuse the need of effort [ 56 ] prompting the failure of initiatives or companies.…”

“…Even though the interest in CE in the food sector has upsurged recently, most of the attention has been focused on the production side [ 15 ]. According to Kirchherr and colleagues [ 16 ], less than 20% of scientific publications tackle consumer role in CE transition, highlighting the urgent need for a deep understanding of consumers' engagement in circular initiatives [ [17] , [18] , [19] , [20] ]. Previous literature on consumer's side, in fact, has been focusing the attention mainly on the understanding of factors influencing individuals' participation in CE initiatives instead of analysing how consumers are practically involved in circular processes, what is their role, and what is requested to them in these processes.…”

“…However, what is still unclear is the perceptions of practical involvement and effort required to individuals when they decide to embrace circular behaviours. The transition towards a CE system and the success of related initiatives, indeed, depends on consumers' willingness to change their routinized behaviour at different stages of their everyday life, such as decision-making at purchase and/or end of life management moments [ 19 , [27] , [28] , [29] ]. Consequently, the theoretical precepts of circular economy have brought to light an innovative image of consumers strongly involved in new practices, such as participation and sharing practices, new ways of recycling, taking back systems or returning products that clearly imply an active engagement and a certain level of effort [ 19 , 30 , 31 ].…”

“…The transition towards a CE system and the success of related initiatives, indeed, depends on consumers' willingness to change their routinized behaviour at different stages of their everyday life, such as decision-making at purchase and/or end of life management moments [ 19 , [27] , [28] , [29] ]. Consequently, the theoretical precepts of circular economy have brought to light an innovative image of consumers strongly involved in new practices, such as participation and sharing practices, new ways of recycling, taking back systems or returning products that clearly imply an active engagement and a certain level of effort [ 19 , 30 , 31 ]. Nevertheless, how to explore and measure this effort, and understand what kind of companies/organizations - following circular principles - require higher levels of consumer effort are relevant aspects that, to the best of our knowledge, are scantly investigated in the scientific literature.…”

Corporate social responsibility and circular economy from the perspective of consumers: A cross‐cultural analysis in the cosmetic industry

“…Previous studies have indicated that consumers are becoming more concerned about the environment and firms' operations in society, and they are raising their expectations regarding the sustainable responsibilities of companies (Bom et al, 2019; Garcia et al, 2021; Sarja et al, 2021). Consequently, companies have been increasingly engaged in CSR and CE activities (Mazzucchelli et al, 2022; Rashed & Shah, 2021).…”