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Cited by 57Sharing Economy and PlatformsSustainable Supply Chain ManagementService and Product Innovation

Does Access Trump Ownership? Exploring Consumer Acceptance of Access-Based Consumption in the Case of Smartphones

Open access
Poppelaars, Flora, Bakker, Conny, Van Engelen, Jo·2018·Sustainability
DOI 10.3390/su10072133
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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.

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  • Service-oriented offerings transform value propositions from static ownership to dynamic access, guaranteeing performance and evolving functionality.

    “Service-oriented offerings transform value propositions from static ownership to dynamic access, guaranteeing performance and evolving functionality (Poppelaars et al. 2018;Centobelli et al. 2020).”

    From Integrating Life Cycle Assessment, Monetised Externalities and Value Alignment for Strategic Reconfiguration of Circular Business Models: The Case of Smartphones (2026) · cites this paper as Poppelaars et al. 2018

    Section 2 describes a shift from a one-time transfer of ownership to an ongoing access relationship. The paper also recommends a dynamically adapted value proposition, including software updates, and constant access to a technically similar smartphone. These are recommendations, not a guarantee of performance or evolving functionality. (LLM, conf=0.86)

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Cited by

Sorted by citations

Authors
Poppelaars, F., Bakker, C., & Van Engelen, J.
Affiliations
  • Delft University of Technology (NL)
  • Faculty of Industrial Design Engineering, Delft University of Technology, 2628 CE Delft, The Netherlands
Corresponding author
Poppelaars, Flora
ORCID
Bakker, Conny
Venue
Sustainability
Publisher
MDPI AG
Published
2018-06-22
Volume
10
Issue
7
Pages
2133
ISSN
2071-1050 (ISSN-L)
DOI
10.3390/su10072133
OpenAlex
W2808907888
Cited by
57
References
0
Citations by year
2026: 5 · 2025: 5 · 2024: 9 · 2023: 6 · 2022: 6 · 2021: 11 · 2020: 8 · 2019: 5 · 2018: 2
FWCI
11.65
Type
journal article
Language
en
Open access
Licence
Locations
  • Sustainability (publishedVersion, cc-by)
  • University of Groningen research database (University of Groningen / Centre for Information Technology) (publishedVersion, cc-by)
  • RePEc: Research Papers in Economics (submittedVersion)
  • DOAJ (DOAJ: Directory of Open Access Journals) (submittedVersion, cc-by-sa)
  • Research Repository (Delft University of Technology) (submittedVersion, cc-by)
  • University of Groningen research database (University of Groningen / Centre for Information Technology) (submittedVersion, cc-by)
  • Data Archiving and Networked Services (DANS) (submittedVersion, other-oa)
Topics
  • Social Sciences › Business, Management and Accounting › Marketing › Sharing Economy and Platforms
  • Social Sciences › Business, Management and Accounting › Strategy and Management › Sustainable Supply Chain Management
  • Social Sciences › Business, Management and Accounting › Marketing › Service and Product Innovation
Keywords
access-based consumption, smartphones, circular economy, consumer acceptance, consumer awareness, terms of use, repair service

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