Enhancing consumers’ willingness to repair electronic products

Enhancing consumers’ willingness to repair electronic products: How design can nudge sustainable behaviour

van den Berge, R.B.R. (TU Delft Marketing and Consumer Research)
Magnier, L.B.M. (TU Delft Marketing and Consumer Research)
Mugge, R. (TU Delft Marketing and Consumer Research; TU Delft Design, Organisation and Strategy)

Lockton, D. (editor)
Lenzi, S. (editor)
Hekkert, P. (editor)
Oak, A. (editor)
Sádaba, J. (editor)
Lloyd, P. (editor)

Design, Organisation and Strategy

2022

Product repair can decrease the ecological burden of consumer electronics
by lengthening their lifetimes, but it is still too rarely practised by consumers. Design for behaviour change can motivate consumers to undertake repair activities. An increased level of repair self-efficacy can nudge consumers towards repair. In two experiments, we tested the effects of a fault indication on consumers’ willingness to repair washing machines, vacuum cleaners and stick vacuum cleaners. A fault indication is a signal appearing on a product providing information about the occurring failure. For products that are relatively less likely to be repaired by a repair professional, the willingness to repair increased significantly when a fault indication was present. The perceived level of self-efficacy mediated these results. These results remained consistent among different types of product failures. Finally, we provide implications for designers and future opportunities on how to further stimulate consumers’ willingness to repair electronic products

design for repair
sustainable consumer behaviour
product lifetime
circular economy

http://resolver.tudelft.nl/uuid:5aae8710-c439-4165-856e-5733fa5d2398

10.21606/drs2022.335

978-1-91229-457-2

DRS Conference Proceedings

DRS 2022, 2022-06-25 → 2022-07-03, Bilbao, Spain

DRS Biennial Conference Series

Institutional Repository

conference paper

© 2022 R.B.R. van den Berge, L.B.M. Magnier, R. Mugge