TY - JOUR
T1 - Consumer collectives in the circular economy: A systematic review and research agenda
AU - Luukkonen, Roosa
AU - Närvänen, Elina
AU - Becker, Larissa
N1 - Funding Information:
This work was supported by the Finnish Foundation for Economic Education [grant numbers 210169 , 190290 ].
Publisher Copyright:
© 2024 The Authors
PY - 2024/1/19
Y1 - 2024/1/19
N2 - Despite the importance of social connections and communities in creating, maintaining and advocating circular consumption patterns, the role of consumer collectives has not been adequately defined in the circular economy literature. Through a systematic review of 145 articles from the sustainability literature, a novel conceptual framework was created to address this gap. The current study reveals that the role of consumer collectives in the circular economy is multi-levelled and recursive. First, the framework presents how members of the consumer collective shape the group's characteristics and share their capabilities for circular consumption. In turn, consumer collectives satisfy their members' social needs and enable behavioural changes towards circularity. Second, consumer collectives influence other actors in society by creating institutional plurality and diffusing circular initiatives. Societal structures do not merely shape collectives' courses of action but also enable the actions themselves. The present study contributes to the emerging field of circular consumption by introducing a multi-level, collective perspective on consumers' role in the circular economy. It also offers a research agenda to inspire further theoretical exploration of this topic. Furthermore, the framework provides implications for individual consumers, consumer collectives and policy makers on utilising the identified mechanisms of influence to increase circular consumption.
AB - Despite the importance of social connections and communities in creating, maintaining and advocating circular consumption patterns, the role of consumer collectives has not been adequately defined in the circular economy literature. Through a systematic review of 145 articles from the sustainability literature, a novel conceptual framework was created to address this gap. The current study reveals that the role of consumer collectives in the circular economy is multi-levelled and recursive. First, the framework presents how members of the consumer collective shape the group's characteristics and share their capabilities for circular consumption. In turn, consumer collectives satisfy their members' social needs and enable behavioural changes towards circularity. Second, consumer collectives influence other actors in society by creating institutional plurality and diffusing circular initiatives. Societal structures do not merely shape collectives' courses of action but also enable the actions themselves. The present study contributes to the emerging field of circular consumption by introducing a multi-level, collective perspective on consumers' role in the circular economy. It also offers a research agenda to inspire further theoretical exploration of this topic. Furthermore, the framework provides implications for individual consumers, consumer collectives and policy makers on utilising the identified mechanisms of influence to increase circular consumption.
KW - 512 Business and Management
KW - Circular consumption
KW - Circular economy
KW - Collective consumption
KW - Consumer collectives
KW - Sustainable consumption
KW - Systematic literature review
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85183473082&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1016/j.spc.2024.01.006
DO - 10.1016/j.spc.2024.01.006
M3 - Review Article
SN - 2352-5509
VL - 45
SP - 281
EP - 293
JO - Sustainable Production and Consumption
JF - Sustainable Production and Consumption
ER -