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Consumer behaviour towards storage, disposal and recycling of e-waste: systematic review and future research prospects

Sonal Thukral (Delhi School of Management, Delhi Technological University, Delhi, India)
Deep Shree (Delhi School of Management, Delhi Technological University, Delhi, India)
Shakshi Singhal (Jaypee Business School, Jaypee Institute of Information Technology, Noida, India)

Benchmarking: An International Journal

ISSN: 1463-5771

Article publication date: 29 April 2022

Issue publication date: 21 March 2023

2208

Abstract

Purpose

With the rapid increase in the consumption of electrical and electronic innovations, responsible management and recycling of electronic waste (e-waste) or waste electrical and electronic equipment (WEEE) has been a significant concern for the governments, stakeholders, researchers and industry practitioners around the world. Consumer awareness, disposal behaviour and perception are chief facets of designing sustainable management strategies. Although researchers have widely studied e-waste over many years, the research focusing on consumer awareness about e-waste recycling has gained momentum recently. This paper aims to systematise the existing literature and explore future research prospects on household e-waste sorting behaviour.

Design/methodology/approach

Web of science (WoS) core collection was searched using selected keywords to identify relevant articles published from 2001 to 2021. The search resulted in 1,156 research articles published from 2001 to 2021. After a detailed study, 85 articles were shortlisted for in-depth review. The review was conducted based on global trends, top journals, most prolific authors, most active e-waste research countries, and institutions centring on consumer participation in e-waste disposal and recycling behaviour. The present research has also identified around eleven factors that seem to have a bearing on consumer behaviour towards storage, disposal and recycling of e-waste.

Findings

E-waste research has gained increased attention in the last five years. The majority of the studies has focused on motivational factors and ignore the risks associated with handling e-waste. The present study reports the pertinent issue of lack of awareness among the masses about e-waste handling and disposal. Thus, bringing to the fore the lack of awareness programmes and initiatives. The analysis presents the gaps in the literature and future research agendas.

Originality/value

The review article will help in providing an in-depth understanding of consumer behaviour towards storage, disposal and recycling of e-waste and delineates the future direction of research that may be undertaken in this field of study.

Keywords

Acknowledgements

The research work presented in this paper is part of the project sanctioned by the Indian Council of Social Science Research (ICSSR), Government of India.

Citation

Thukral, S., Shree, D. and Singhal, S. (2023), "Consumer behaviour towards storage, disposal and recycling of e-waste: systematic review and future research prospects", Benchmarking: An International Journal, Vol. 30 No. 3, pp. 1021-1072. https://doi.org/10.1108/BIJ-12-2021-0774

Publisher

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Emerald Publishing Limited

Copyright © 2022, Emerald Publishing Limited

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