Towards a regenerative economy: An innovative scale to measure people’s awareness of the circular economy

Abstract

The concept of the circular economy (CE) has gained attention as a means of achieving environmental goals and economic sustainability. People’s awareness of CE is critical in achieving a more circular and regenerative economy, but there is a lack of consistent tools to measure this awareness. This research aims to develop a reliable and valid scale to measure people’s awareness of CE. A systematic literature review identifies the main constructs of this scale, and the validation process includes structured interviews with experts, use of the Q-Sort method, statistical methods, and a pre-test with 144 respondents using exploratory factor analysis and non-probability sampling. The final proposed scale is tested via a survey of 820 respondents, with confirmatory factor analysis used to ensure reliability and validity. The proposed scale can be used to assess people’s awareness of different CE strategies and, thus inform strategies, actions, and policies to achieve a more regenerative economy. The scale represents a theoretical contribution by providing uniformity and can be applied in different contexts. It also has practical applications for companies and governments to measure the level of awareness people have towards CE.