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Scientific Article details

Title Consumer Perception of Online Attributes in Circular Economy Activities
ID_Doc 1463
Authors Stein, N; Spinler, S; Vanthournout, H; Blass, V
Title Consumer Perception of Online Attributes in Circular Economy Activities
Year 2020
Published Sustainability, 12, 5
DOI 10.3390/su12051914
Abstract Businesses like Airbnb have shown that a successful circular economy (CE) business can operate exclusively online. Although online communication and web appearance attributes have been subject to academic research given accelerated digitization, there is still a lack of knowledge about online attributes and their role in facilitating CE. We close the portrayed knowledge gap by conducting a discrete-choice experiment with best to worst scaling and focusing on the effect of CE experience on the perception of a CE website by ranking nine online attributes, grouped in three subsets. We therefore contribute by identifying online attributes that are perceived as favorable for CE businesses and detect how participation in CE activities a ffects the perception of these attributes. We find that third-party associated online attributes (e.g., user reviews or third-party guarantees) rank significantly higher throughout CE consumption patterns of the sample, being always amongst the top three attributes. This novel finding on online preferences opens a new direction for further research, as well as allows practitioners to optimize online operations accordingly. Furthermore, we find that users without prior touchpoints with CE have a higher need for information about the business model as compared to CE active users who are more interested in community related attributes.
Author Keywords circular economy; perception; online preferences; consumer engagement
Index Keywords Index Keywords
Document Type Other
Open Access Open Access
Source Science Citation Index Expanded (SCI-EXPANDED); Social Science Citation Index (SSCI)
EID WOS:000522470900215
WoS Category Green & Sustainable Science & Technology; Environmental Sciences; Environmental Studies
Research Area Science & Technology - Other Topics; Environmental Sciences & Ecology
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