Predictors of Upcycling in the Highly Industrialised West: A Survey across Three Continents of Australia, Europe, and North America

Kyungeun Sung (), Lis Ku, JungKyoon Yoon and Chajoong Kim
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Kyungeun Sung: School of Art, Design and Architecture, De Montfort University, Leicester LE1 9BH, UK
Lis Ku: School of Applied Social Sciences, De Montfort University, Leicester LE1 9BH, UK
JungKyoon Yoon: Department of Human Centered Design, Cornell University, Ithaca, NY 14853, USA
Chajoong Kim: Department of Design, Ulsan National Institute of Science and Technology, Ulsan 44919, Republic of Korea

Sustainability, 2023, vol. 15, issue 2, 1-15

Abstract: Upcycling, as a way to reutilise resources, offers a promising alternative to production and consumption based on virgin materials. Despite the growing academic and industrial interest in recent years, there is a lack of large-scale cross-country or cross-regional studies that systematically investigate influencing factors for consumer upcycling behaviour. By drawing on social psychological theories of interpersonal behaviour and planned behaviour, this study investigated predictors of upcycling behaviour in five highly industrialised countries of three continents: Australia, Canada, Germany, UK, and USA. Results showed that intention and perceived behavioural control (confidence in abilities) were the most important factors for upcycling. Theoretical and practical implications from this study are discussed in the context of efforts to scale up global upcycling.

Keywords: circular economy; scaling up; social psychology; sustainable behaviour; sustainable consumption; upcycling (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: O13 Q Q0 Q2 Q3 Q5 Q56 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2023
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