Enhancing purchase intention in circular economy: An empirical evidence of remanufactured automotive product in Thailand

Abstract

Within spectrum of circular economy concept, remanufacturing is known as the key closed-loop supply chain strategy. Although academic research on remanufacturing has been increasingly conducted, the majority of prior research were conducted in the theme of best practices. A small number of studies started to address the demand for circular economy products as a challenge to the continuity of circular economy practices. Thus, this study focuses on the demand aspect of remanufacturing, especially in emerging economies where literature in this area of study is limited.This research was conducted with the objective to explore the key drivers to enhance consumer demand for remanufactured products, especially in emerging economy like Thailand, where socio-economic conditions are different from those in developed countries. Quantitative data collection method was employed with a survey of 200 vehicle owners in Bangkok. The extended theory of planned behavior was used as theoretical framework with the inclusion of marketing stimuli to analyze consumer behavior in purchasing remanufactured products. In addition, partial least square-structural equation modeling with the importance-performance map analysis was employed as the key statistical analysis technique.The findings indicate that attitude and subjective norm are positively correlated with consumers’ purchase intention toward remanufactured products. Product and price stimulating factors are also determined to significantly enhance consumers’ purchase intention with significant effect size via attitude. Results lead to practical implication that joint coordination between government agencies and industrial players is required for product and price improvement to enhance consumers’ purchase intention for remanufactured products in emerging economy.