Seller reputation, distribution and intention to purchase refurbished products

Abstract

The effectiveness of a closed-loop supply chain strategy for a tenable circular economy heavily depends on consumers' willingness to purchase such products. However, research has documented that consumers are skeptical about these products, thus making of interest the understanding of consumers' attitude and purchase intention. The literature provides limited evidence about the role of specific contextual marketing stimuli in shaping consumers' intention to purchase products derived from a closed-loop supply chain approach. This study aims to fill this important gap by examining the effect of the importance paid by consumers to seller reputation and distribution on consumers׳ intention to purchase a particular type of these products, i.e. refurbished smartphones. To do so, this study combines insights deriving from the stimulus response model and prospect theory. Findings from structural equation modeling indicate that the importance paid by consumers to seller reputation and distribution are significantly related to perceived value and risk, which in turn affect attitude and the intention to purchase refurbished products. In addition, findings highlight the centrality of the attitude construct in the model. The implications of these results can be useful for closed-loop supply chain managers, remanufacturers, and sellers, as they can help to improve their marketing initiatives and policies. Eventually, our theoretical model can also help scholars to improve the understanding of consumers’ mental processes when evaluating refurbished products.