Perspectives from the broken electronics repair system: Barriers and enablers along the repair journey

• Consumers and repair companies share resource availability and knowledge barriers. • Brands face upstream supplier issues and the inertia of consumption culture. • Barriers and enablers of repair are organised into stages of the repair journey. • Past experience is a powerful influence on future repair action. • Cost of repair may often be an assumed barrier due to uncertainty and inconvenience. Electronics repair is a core component of a circular economy, yet the many social, technical, and financial barriers limit the widespread adoption of repair practices along the value chain. The high complexity of electronics, reinforced by product design choices, and a perpetuating culture of consumption has normalised replacement when a fault occurs. Similarly, a lack of technical knowledge, uncertainty of repair outcomes, and opaque repair pricing make electronics repair particularly challenging for repair actors. However, existing literature lacks a comprehensive overview of the barriers and enablers perceived by the actors involved in the repair process, and how they influence the repair journey. To address these gaps, this study conducts a scoping review and interviews to understand the root causes of barriers and enablers of repair. The main barriers identified are the (assumed) affordability of repair services, repair not being front of mind for consumers, and the availability of spare parts, tools, and repair guides. These issues are largely attributed to upstream issues with product design, supplier agreements, and business operations lacking thoughtful construction to enable a smooth repair process. Our findings support the conceptualisation of the repair journey with interconnected barriers and enablers influencing decision-making in each stage. Building on this framework, we also present intervention opportunities for brands and manufacturers to facilitate repair along the repair journey. Future research should be conducted to measure the behavioural outputs of policy interventions designed to incentivise repair.