Exploring circular consumption: circular attitudes and their influence on consumer behavior across the product lifecycle

This study explores the dynamic and multidimensional domain of circular consump-tion, emphasizing the relevance of a lifecycle perspective in understanding consumerbehaviors within the circular economy. Moving beyond prior research that predomi-nantly focused on specific actions such as recycling or purchasing second-hand prod-ucts, we advocate for a more comprehensive understanding of consumer choicesthroughout a product's lifecycle. Drawing on attitudes theory, we employ itemresponse theory (IRT) models to unveil latent attitudes reflecting diverse circular con-sumer behaviors. These attitudes, inferred from manifested actions across differentproduct lifecycle stages, include environmental-centric, resource-centric, andsocietal-centric circular attitudes. The study involves a representative sample of5,124 respondents across five European countries. Our findings underscore the com-plexity of consumer motivations in the circular economy, revealing distinct linksbetween circular attitudes and behaviors. This research contributes to a nuancedunderstanding of circular consumption, emphasizing the importance of a lifecycleapproach, and driving the development of robust measurement scales for circularconsumer actions.