Rebound effects of circular business models on the consumer level: a review

Abstract

This paper addresses consumer behaviour in circular economy (CE), specifically by examining consumer-level rebound effects in response to circular business models (CBMs). Despite the centrality of consumer behaviour in CE, there is a limited understanding of how consumers engage with CBMs and to what extent the environmental benefits of circular strategies may be offset by their behaviour. To this end, we conducted a systematic literature review to assess the evidence from real-life case studies of CBMs. We identified consumer behaviours leading both to rebound effects, and to reduction of environmental costs of consumption. We also showed that consumer behaviour was influenced by contextual factors and by the characteristics of the CBMs. This suggests that CBMs may only enable sustainable consumption in specific contexts.