Towards improved understanding of reverse logistics – Examining mediating role of return intention

Abstract

Considering enormous adverse impact of improper disposal of e-waste on green house emissions and global climate change, it is imperative to develop improved understanding about reverse logistics. However, as majority of consumers prefer to store their e-waste at home rather than returning it to producer thereby limiting the successful implementation of reverse logistics, it is important to understand the psychological determinants of consumers’ intention to return e-waste so that effective strategies could be designed accordingly. This research work aims to strengthen e-waste acquisition from the consumers by determining the psychological determinants of intention to return e-waste. This research work aims to strengthen e-waste acquisition from the consumers by determining the psychological determinants of intention to return e-waste. For this, a survey instrument was administered on 750 mobile phone users in India and structural equation modeling was used to analyze the responses.Research findings show that return intention acts as a mediating variable in prediction of return behavior. Further, perceived behavioral control, subjective norms, moral norms, willingness to sacrifice were identified as antecedents to return intention. Given the possibility of increased proportion of e-waste returns through strengthening of behavioral intentions, the study findings and suggestive inputs may help the firms in fulfilling their “Extended Producer Responsibility”.