MAPPING CONSUMER BEHAVIOUR IN THE CIRCULAR ECONOMY: A SYSTEMATIC LITERATURE REVIEW AND BIBLIOMETRIC ANALYSIS OF BEHAVIOURAL INSIGHTS

Authors:

Sunakshi Chadha, Dr. Vikas Gupta

Keywords:

Circular Economy; Consumer Behaviour; Sustainable Consumption; Product-Service Systems; Up cycling

Abstract:

The paper offers a systematic literature review of the key aspects of circular economy CE related to consumer behaviour, employing the biblioshiny R package and the Theory, Context, Characteristics, and Methodology (TCCM) structure of the analysis, which counts with publications from 2005 to 2024 retrieved from Web of Science and Scopus. This study identifies a steady increase in the productivity of papers and pinpoints major domains of research interest, which encompass consumer behaviour concerning circularity and sustainable consumption. The TCCM revealed that the Theory of Planned Behaviour dominated the field, geographical concentration in European nations, industry specialization in sustainable fashion and up cycling, and cross-sectional studies. Following from these observations, we outline new research directions that centre on theoretical synthesis, increased geographical coverage and methodological pluralism. Future research directions include examining micro- and macro-level aspects of consumer circular behaviour, defining the relationship between circular consumption and emerging technologies, and defining circularity indicators at the consumer level. Thus, this research plays a valuable role in the existing literature by offering a comprehensive synthesis of the current state of the research in the area of circular economy consumer behaviour, outlining directions for further research, and as such, contributing to the development of the knowledge of the chosen interdisciplinary area of sustainability and consumer research.

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