Cognitive biases of consumers as barriers in transition towards circular economy
ISSN: 0025-1747
Article publication date: 27 November 2018
Issue publication date: 8 April 2019
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to identify the cognitive biases of consumer and explain how they are creating barriers in transition towards circular economy (CE).
Design/methodology/approach
This is a conceptual paper which adopts a consumer-centric conceptualization of CE by focussing on cognitive biases as an underlying and unifying mechanism which is creating barriers in the adoption of CE. This conceptualization explains consumers’ non-adoption of circular business model, highlight synergies across disconnected theories and streams of research originating in different disciplines and at the individual, societal and cultural levels of analysis.
Findings
The findings of this paper suggest that circular business models are not fulfilling the psychological, social and cultural needs of the consumers and that in turn lead to barriers in diffusion of the CE. Consumers have a negative connotation with the different circular business model due to their cognitive biases.
Practical implications
The paper details about key implications to design effective interventions to modify consumer behaviour in the desired direction for hassle-free transition to CE from the linear economy.
Originality/value
This paper offers a shift in CE research from a deterministic approach to conceptualising consumers to a positivist approach to conceptualising consumers.
Keywords
Citation
Singh, P. and Giacosa, E. (2019), "Cognitive biases of consumers as barriers in transition towards circular economy", Management Decision, Vol. 57 No. 4, pp. 921-936. https://doi.org/10.1108/MD-08-2018-0951
Publisher
:Emerald Publishing Limited
Copyright © 2018, Emerald Publishing Limited