Antecedents of sustainable consumption of remanufactured products: A circular economy experiment in the Brazilian context

Abstract

Some key members of our society have established a goal to reduce the consumption of natural resources. However, there is still a growing consumption of goods, which impacted on the necessity to start reusing products, reducing the use of resources, from which the circular economy precepts are key to sustainable development. In this context, this study aims to analyze the relationship between Consumption Behaviour antecedents (Hedonic Dimension; Utilitarian Dimension; Environmental Awareness) with Sustainable Consumption and Purchase Intention. This research introduces an experiment that was used to simulate situations involving both the traditional and circular economies, by evaluating the possibility of buying a new smartphone or a remanufactured smartphone. This quantitative research, of descriptive scope and characterized as an experiment, was made possible through a survey applied to 2543 Brazilian respondents. Data were analyzed by using multivariate data analysis, with the application of factor analysis and structural equation modeling. The results indicate that Environmental Awareness has a great influence on Sustainable Consumption, and that both the Utilitarian and Hedonic Dimensions are key influencers on Sustainable Consumption. Finally, the context of circular economy's Utilitarian Dimension and Hedonic Dimension are more important for potential consumers. The value of this study is related to the development of a framework that involves different antecedents of the purchase intention of a remanufactured artifact, which allowed the testing of influencing factors in both situations of circular and traditional economies, making the study unique and original for the advancement of science.