Why Is Ownership an Issue? Exploring Factors That Determine Public Acceptance of Product-Service Systems

Nick Pidgeon,Catherine Cherry

doi:10.3390/su10072289

Abstract

Shifting away from ownership towards access-based consumption, innovative new business models known as product-service systems (PSS) are advocated as part of a more circular, resource efficient economy. With product ownership (and responsibility for repair) remaining with providers, pay-per-use services are promoted as one such model, which can both increase product longevity and reduce the ‘burdens of ownership’ on consumers. However, PSS also require public acceptance of access-based consumption, including the long-term use of non-owned products and a range of accompanying contractual obligations. We conducted a series of deliberative workshops with the public, aiming to explore the concept of pay-per-use PSS and the role that concerns about ownership and responsibility may have in determining public acceptance. Rather than focusing on innate desires for product ownership, we found that participants’ concerns regarding pay-per-use PSS were usually related to wider fears surrounding the risks and responsibilities of entering into contract-based service agreements. Identifying four public narratives of service provision (Ownership and convenience; Risk and responsibility; Affordability and security; Care and control), we argue that successful introduction of PSS will only be possible if careful consideration is given to deeply held values pertaining to ownership, responsibility and trust that influence such cultural understandings.

Highlights

With unsustainable patterns of production and consumption understood to be a major cause of modern global environmental challenges [1], the concept of the circular economy has gathered increasing interest over recent years as a solution to issues such as climate change, waste and resource depletion
One strategy currently being proposed as a step towards a circular economy relies on servitisation, where innovative business models support the dematerialisation of the economy and shift towards a focus on selling services rather than products alone
Whilst research into consumer perspectives surrounding participation in product-service systems (PSS) is growing, this literature has focused primarily on the concerns and motivations of those individuals who are already making use of such services. These studies are usually case study specific, with relatively little currently known about the acceptance of these new business models within the wider public. Both willing and able to engage in complex debate surrounding energy futures and sustainability [28], we argue that the wider public should have a voice in the debate surrounding the transition towards a more circular, resource efficient economy and the future business models that may develop within it, both as future users and more broadly as citizens

Summary

Introduction

With unsustainable patterns of production and consumption understood to be a major cause of modern global environmental challenges [1], the concept of the circular economy has gathered increasing interest over recent years as a solution to issues such as climate change, waste and resource depletion. Rising up the policy and business agenda [2,3], advocates of the circular economy describe the need to shift away from the current linear ‘take-make-dispose’ economy towards a circular economy that is designed to keep products and materials circulating for as long as possible, before recovering them for future use [4]. One strategy currently being proposed as a step towards a circular economy relies on servitisation, where innovative business models support the dematerialisation of the economy and shift towards a focus on selling services rather than products alone. Most similar to current business models, Product-oriented services sell additional services alongside products, such as extended/lifetime warranties and maintenance services. Use-oriented services are designed to provide access to products and can include the leasing, renting and pooling of products, the ownership of which remains with the service provider. The most radical category, Results-oriented services include home service provision agreements or contracts for the delivery of functional results, with no pre-determined products involved

Objectives

Methods

Discussion

Conclusion