RETRACTED: Engaging the citizen in the circular economy: Transcending the passive consumer role

Abstract

The transition to a resource-efficient and effective circular economy (CE) requires the active engagement of all societal and economic actors, including business, civic society, and political actors. Research, so far, has mainly focused on business solutions and policy approaches that enable these solutions. However, very little knowledge has been developed regarding the role of citizens in the CE (e.g., sharer, repairer, or buyer of quality products or second-hand products) and the transformations to everyday life that circularity may require. Therefore, there is an imperative to fill this knowledge gap and provide the insights needed to drive the adoption and upscale of circular practices in the everyday life of citizens. To go beyond existing approaches of consumer research, this contribution proposes the expansion of the methodological arena by integrating theories of socio-cultural (e.g., practice theory, consumption work) and psycho-social (e.g., peer-influence, social proof) nature to complement existing approaches of “behavioral” scope, which have been widely used in economics and policy studies. By identifying the way people relate to CE in their everyday life and the conscious and unconscious actions they are likely to take toward a CE transformation, it is possible to complement the existing knowledge on CE business model innovation and policy interventions so that the “consumer” aspect is better incorporated and not taken simply for granted, as a CE adopter.

On Circularity, Complexity and (Elements of) Hope

“…In such a setting, customers-as in the classical understanding of consumers of products and services offered by industry-have responsibility and are integral parts of a bigger system, requiring a shift away from the "customer is king" paradigm. Counter to the current focus in literature on how customer behavior and preferences influence the emergence of circular business models (Gomes et al, 2022;Mostaghel & Chirumalla, 2021), the integral functions of customers need investigation (Milios, 2022) especially in regard to help reducing complexity in circular systems.…”

How do we change what we can’t describe? A comprehensive Framework of User Behaviours in a materials circular economy.

“…Seven papers were identified that do attempt to summarise types of user/consumer behaviours. These papers discuss 'behaviours' in terms of broad categories (Gomes et al, 2022;Selvefors et al, 2019;Wastling et al, 2018), the different 'roles' that consumers/user may adopt (Maitre-Ekern, 2019;Milios, 2022), or types of circular 'strategies' (Camacho-Otero et al, 2020;Chamberlin, 2018). These papers do not, however, adopt a specific behavioural lens.…”

“…As Milios (2022) observes, the terms we use affect our thinking, and so we begin this section with some notes on language, before exploring existing attempts to define user circular behaviours. Firstly, we note that 'circular economy' is a heterogeneous, and umbrella, term (Garcia et al, 2021) bringing together a number of different ideas that centre around reframing the way resources are used and managed (Wastling et al, 2018).…”

“…Despite the importance of the users' actions at the Use stage, most circular economy literature to date has been heavily focused on the upstream production / supply side of the economy, with attention directed at the role of business/industry and policy to support them (Chamberlin, 2018;Lofthouse & Prendeville, 2017;Milios, 2022). In fact, a review of circular economy definitions in the literature found that less than 20% included aspects of consumption (Kirchherr et al, 2017).The importance, function and enablement of users has only recently begun to receive attention (see e.g.…”

Raising effective awareness for circular economy and sustainability concepts through students' involvement in a virtual enterprise

“…Moving toward a CE model, which signifies a closedloop production-consumption process and system, and its implementation requires systemic thinking, top-down and bottomup approach, initiatives and action, and the active involvement of various stakeholders, including the public and private sectors, and civil society (Kyriakopoulos et al, 2019;Calisto Friant et al, 2020;Desing et al, 2020). Various roles of citizens, individual engagement toward this transformation, and gaps in the existing knowledge highlight the need for bringing about changes in everyday life attitudes and behaviors for adopting a new way of thinking and for developing new competencies and skills (Milios, 2022). Furthermore, the European Union's (EU's) relevant policy framework includes the citizens' empowerment by providing trustworthy information (EU, 2020).…”