Abstract:
This thesis aims to provide novel insights into the influence of product type on consumer behaviour (encompassing consumer attitude and purchase intention) and to study whether the degree of salience of product uniqueness influenced this relationship. Based on a literature review, exploratory qualitative pilot study and an online experiment, this thesis applies a comparative study approach to establish consumers' behaviour regarding commercially upcycled products compared to reused - and regular products. In particular, to find out what makes commercially upcycled products favourable. An experiment in the form of an online questionnaire was conducted amongst 152 Dutch consumers. The participants filled in questions concerning their consumer behaviour based on a stimulus manipulating for product type and salience of product uniqueness. However, no significant results were found. Therefore, no support has been found for the hypotheses in this study. The results show that product type does not influence consumer behaviour encompassing consumer attitude and purchase intention. Furthermore, there was no difference for this effect when the salience of product uniqueness was high vs low. Still, the outcomes are valuable for academics and managers, as this thesis contributes to our understanding of the consumer behaviour towards commercially upcycled and reused products.
