Abschlussarbeit

Circular Economy: The role of personal traits and attitudes in the remanufactured product (e.g., smartphone) market

More than ever sustainability measures are getting important to safe the planet. With circular economy, humanity has the chance to not just reduce the energy usage and hence CO2 emissions during material sourcing and processing, but also reduce the necessity for virgin material in production significantly. Even though in the B2B environment remanufacturing has already caught great traction and companies try to shift towards more sustainable products, the consumer segment is yet to pick up on the initiative. In order to change the way that we perceive sustainable products (e.g., remanufactured products) it is essential to understand the psychological mechanisms and barriers preventing consumers from purchasing the sustainable product option.
For a practical approach the research should focus on the remanufactured consumer products segment and understand the range of mechanisms that have been studied in the past and could have an influence on the purchasing intention. For example, some consumers might think their own behavior won’t have an impact on what happens to the planet (check out EELOC: https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1002/mar.20522) others might have a strong brand perception and would hence buy any product from their favorite brand (check out brand equity: https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1111/poms.12238).
If this sounds interesting, there is much more we can discuss in a next step. ;)

You will get close alignments in the beginning, and some more autonomy in the later stages of your thesis.
If you are ambitious to work towards good results and interested in making the world a better place, shoot me an email.
Hieronymi@time.rwth-aachen.de

Keywords: Circular Economy, Remanufacturing, Consumer Behavior, Literature Review