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Carl Dalhammar

Carl Dalhammar

Senior lecturer

Carl Dalhammar

Behavioural Insights into Personal Electronics Repair in Sweden

Author

  • Mariana López Dávila
  • Leonidas Milios
  • Jessika Luth Richter
  • Carl Dalhammar

Summary, in English

Sweden is actively seeking to scale up repair activities as part of its strategy to reduce waste, transition to a circular economy, and achieve zero net emissions by 2045. In the last couple of years, several new policies to promote consumer repairs have been adopted or proposed in Sweden. However, very little is known about the socio-cultural factors that shape people's decision to repair their personal electronics. This study addresses this gap by applying consumer behaviour theory to study the factors shaping and influencing people's decision to repair their personal electronics. A mixedmethod research approach was used, involving 19 semi-structured interviews and an online questionnaire answered by 190 participants. The interviews and questionnaire targeted Swedish residents and were based on Triandis' theory of interpersonal behaviour. The study revealed that intention and habits determined repair behaviour and that social norms, attitudes, and feelings about repair determined participants' intention to repair. Moreover, the interviews and the questionnaire uncovered that, in general, attitudes and social norms about repair do not encourage repair behaviour and that the physical environment is filled with barriers that discourage people from repairing their broken electronics. Therefore, the study concluded that to scale up repair activities, it is essential to improve the perceived individual benefits of repair, strengthen social norms to make repair the expected solution for broken personal electronics, shape repair habits, and lower contextual barriers. Based on these findings implications and specific policy recommendations are discussed.

Department/s

  • The International Institute for Industrial Environmental Economics
  • Centre for Environmental and Climate Science (CEC)

Publishing year

2021-09-10

Language

English

Pages

321-343

Publication/Series

Proceedings of the 20th European Roundtable on Sustainable Consumption and Production

Document type

Conference paper

Publisher

Verlag der Technischen Universität Graz

Topic

  • Economics and Business
  • Earth and Related Environmental Sciences

Keywords

  • repair
  • circular economy
  • behaviour

Conference name

20th European Roundtable on Sustainable Consumption and Production

Conference date

2021-09-08 - 2021-09-10

Conference place

Graz, Austria

Status

Published

Project

  • Creating a repair society to advance the Circular Economy – policies, networks and people
  • Resource-Efficient and Effective Solutions based on Circular Economy Thinking - Phase 2

ISBN/ISSN/Other

  • ISBN: 978-3-85125-842-4