Project
Behavioral and legal barriers to product-service systems
The transition from a linear to a more circular economy that uses fewer materials and causes less negative environmental impact, entails new business models and a shift from buying products to using products (‘servitization’, ‘access-based consumption’). Taking into account behavioral barriers, and in absence of a clear regulatory framework, users feel uncertain and hesitant to engage in new, circular product-service systems (‘PSS’). This interdisciplinary research project aims at identifying the behavioral and legal barriers that inhibit users to switch to new, circular PSS and at examining (1) to what extent and how the existing contractual liability regimes in the EU and selected Member States (BE, NL) can be applied to product-service contracts and (2) if they can help overcome the reluctance of consumers to engage in circular business models.