A New Concept of Consumer Behavior in the Circular Economy

The increasing volumes of produced and consumed wastes and the very low level of waste disposal weakly correlate with the key provisions of the concept of sustainable development, environmental protection, and socioeconomic development of society. This study aims to substantiate the provisions of a new concept of consumer behavior in a circular economy based on responsible and environmentally oriented consumer behavior. Online participants (N=400 suburban eco-conscious shoppers) were randomly assigned packaging with either collective, generational, or no sustainability messaging before rating eco-friendliness, intentions, and conducting discrete choice tasks. Results showed that collective impact messaging drove the highest perceived eco-alignment (M=5.81 vs. 4.22 control) and willingness-to-pay thresholds. Moderation analysis indicated that collective appeals strengthened eco-perception relationships with premiums. Findings provide empirical evidence that targeted circular economy communications can increase sustainable packaging appeal and economic adoption tradeoffs to overcome attitudinal barriers around consumer recycling behavior. Doi: 10.28991/ESJ-2024-08-04-01 Full Text: PDF