A survey of perceived prevalence of selected environmental topics in product development, and their relationships with employee's ecological concern

Abstract

Activities to advance circular economy are accelerating, and ecodesign has been mentioned as a necessary ingredient for their success. These activities might be further accelerated with more shared understanding of the related terminology. Many of these suggested activities take place in companies' product development where employees should implement them, including that of ecodesign. Employees' interpretation of enhancing practices are assumed critical in supporting the implementation. A survey using a judgmental nonprobability sampling is used to assess the perceived level of selected environmental topics in the product development contexts, and how these are associated with perceived ecodesign practices in product development. One focus is on how the perceived durability considerations might be linked with these practices. Furthermore, the paper contributes to the discussion on the soft-side of ecodesign by examining how one human factor - ecological concern - might be associated with these perceived activities.