Consumer e‐waste disposal behaviour: A systematic review and research agenda

Abstract

AbstractE‐waste is the world's fastest‐growing waste stream, and it contains toxic chemicals that are harmful to human health. Research has shown that the vast majority of consumers are unwilling to dispose of e‐waste, preferring to keep obsolete products at home rather than returning them to manufacturers for recycling. Despite the evident importance of this area of research, there is yet to be a systematic assessment of e‐waste disposal behaviour that summarises the relationships among constructs in the forms of antecedents, decisions, and consequences from the perspective of consumer behaviour. With this knowledge gap in mind, the current paper's goal is to provide a comprehensive examination of available studies on consumer e‐waste disposal behaviour. In particular, the purpose is to promote e‐waste disposal behaviour by looking at how such behaviour has been utilised as a construct in the literature and what theories, contexts, characteristics, and methodological approaches have been used to strengthen this behaviour. Towards this aim, we used VOSviewer to examine N = 43 research publications on e‐waste disposal behaviour published in Scopus‐indexed journals between 2000 and 2021, noting discrepancies, identifying major research gaps, and developing comprehensive research agendas (provided in the form of testable propositions).