Ivan Maassen

Recycling, What Drives Us?: Studies on E-waste Return Behavior Ivan Maassen

Product returns and recycling from end users for recovery or disposal is a widely discussed theme in literature. Only the return of end of life electrical and electronic products is a subject within the recovery theme which has not been discussed broadly. Reverse logistics on electrical and electronic products is an important field since end of life electrical and electronic products consist out of many different materials which can be reused. Furthermore knowledge on why consumers tend to return their products is of importance because OEMs see the return of end of life products as an exogenous process. In order to make it more predictable knowledge is needed. This thesis attempts to provide knowledge on what people drive to return their end of life electrical and electronic products. Furthermore this thesis tries to gain insights what the role of norms and knowledge of product returns is on the behavioral intentions of consumers. To accomplish these attempts the theory of planned behavior, the model of altruistic behavior, moral norms, and knowledge on products returns are incorporated into a conceptual framework describing how these construct can influence behavioral intentions.