Immediate return in circular economy:Business to consumer product return information sharing framework to support sustainable manufacturing in small and medium enterprises

Abstract

SME manufacturers of electrical and electronic equipment seem to have high e-waste levels, which is inhibiting SMEs manufacturers in becoming more sustainable. On the other hand, consumers play a major role in enabling the SMEs manufacturers to achieve their sustainability targets as they are responsible for returning their e-waste back to SMEs. Based on the concepts of social marketing theory, this paper aims to examine the type of information that influences consumers’ intention to immediately return their e-waste back to SME manufacturers. A conceptual framework is developed and tested through a survey questionnaire to 394 Malaysian consumers. The relationship of the proposed types of information and information presentation towards consumers’ immediate return attitude, as well as environmental motivation and environmental knowledge as the moderators in consumers’ segmentation are tested. The findings suggest that specific type of return information and message framing have a positive effect on Immediate Return Intention.