The salience of product component as a strategy for promoting the creative reuse of end-of-life products

Abstract

The creative reuse of products at the end of their lifecycle has the potential to effectively mitigate consumer waste and promote sustainable practices. This study aims to leverage the role of product component information in fostering consumer engagement in the creative reuse of their end-of-life products. Drawing upon the existing literature on salience bias and resource matching theory, this study investigates whether and how the salient product component information (as opposed to the whole product information) influences consumers’ intention to creatively reuse their end-of-life products. Analysis of the data from 403 consumers confirms that the salient product component information positively influences the intention to creatively reuse end-of-life products, particularly among consumers with a high level of cognitive flexibility. Furthermore, mental imagery and creative self-efficacy serve as parallel underlying mechanisms through which the salient product component influences the intention to creatively reuse. The findings contribute to existing research on information salience and sustainable consumption practices, while also providing valuable suggestions for businesses adopting detachable and modular strategies into their product design, as well as offering new perspectives for governments seeking to minimize waste at the consumer end.