Print Email Facebook Twitter Does Access Trump Ownership? Title Does Access Trump Ownership?: Exploring Consumer Acceptance of Access-Based Consumption in the Case of Smartphones Author Poppelaars, F.A. (TU Delft Circular Product Design) Bakker, C.A. (TU Delft Circular Product Design) van Engelen, J.M.L. (TU Delft Design for Sustainability; Rijksuniversiteit Groningen) Date 2018 Abstract Value creation in a circular economy is based on products being returned after use. In the case of smartphones, most are never returned and tend to be kept in drawers. Smartphone access services (e.g., leasing or upgrade) have been experimented with in the Netherlands but have been largely unsuccessful. This study explores the reasons why consumers rejected these access-based smartphone services and is one of the very few to address this topic. The findings are compared with the case of car access services, which are socially better accepted, to identify potential areas for improvement. The qualitative study consists of in-depth interviews with consumers (n = 18) who either adopted and used a smartphone or car access service, or had considered a new smartphone or car but did not choose access-based consumption. The findings of this small-scale study suggest that the main reasons for the rejection of smartphone access services are a lack of awareness, misunderstanding of terms and conditions, and unsatisfactory compensation for their sacrifice of not owning. Smartphone access providers could thus clearly communicate customers’ rights and responsibilities, offer an excellent service experience (especially during repair) by taking over the burdens of ownership, and stimulate the societal logic shift from ownership to access. Subject consumer behaviorcircular economybehavioral changeconsumer acceptanceaccess modelalternative ownership modelsOA-Fund TU Delft To reference this document use: http://resolver.tudelft.nl/uuid:a613c411-6073-436b-941d-5fb9878ab780 DOI https://doi.org/10.3390/su10072133 ISSN 2071-1050 Source Sustainability, 10 (7), 1-18 Part of collection Institutional Repository Document type journal article Rights © 2018 F.A. Poppelaars, C.A. Bakker, J.M.L. van Engelen Files PDF sustainability_10_02133.pdf 897.83 KB Close viewer /islandora/object/uuid:a613c411-6073-436b-941d-5fb9878ab780/datastream/OBJ/view