Understanding Customer Perceptions of Adopting Circular Economy-Based Products: Insights for Sustainable Consumer Behavior

The global movement toward a circular economy (CE) requires a paradigm shift that promotes sustainable development through product regenerativeness, resuscitation, and material recycling. The adoption of circular economy-based products depends foremost on how customers behave because their decisions affect these product advancements.​ Recent research has shown increasing consumer engagement in sustainable behavior. Consumer research from the Capgemini Research Institute reveals that approximately 70% of people plan to adopt circular approaches to product care through product reduction and longer-lasting ownership and maintenance of items. The value-action gap occurs when environmental concerns of consumers fail to generate matching sustainable purchasing behaviors despite their exhibited interest in sustainability.​ Several factors have led to this disparity. Consumer environmental awareness does not offset the economic deterrents of higher-cost sustainable products that prevent them from purchasing. Customers face difficulties in identifying actual sustainable choices because of unclear information and ambiguous labeling practices in the market.​