Promoting Circular Economy: Understanding the Barriers, Motivations, and Risks Behind Sustainable Consumption

This project is fully aligned with the IQS Strategic Plan 2021–2026, which identifies sustainability and the promotion of a circular economy as core institutional priorities. IQS is firmly committed to becoming a reference in this field, both in education—through initiatives such as the launch of the Master in Circular Economy—and in research, with the development of cutting-edge facilities like the Neuromarketing Lab.

Within this framework, the CONHATIVE research group contributes by focusing on consumer behavior in sustainability-related contexts, with several ongoing PhD dissertations addressing this topic.

Sustainable consumption remains one of the most urgent challenges in advancing the circular economy. Although consumers consistently express high levels of environmental concern, there is a persistent gap between intentions and actual behaviors. For example, while 66% of Spaniards state that they would like to do more for sustainability, only 3.4% of household budgets are allocated to sustainable products, and more than half of those who once purchased them later returned to conventional alternatives (Kantar, 2022; IUI-CEU Alimentación & Sociedad, 2022). This gap illustrates the complexity of consumer decision-making and highlights the need to explore the psychological and social factors that enable—or prevent—sustainable behaviors.

Plastic packaging waste (PPW) exemplifies this tension. Despite the existence of recycling systems, actual recycling rates remain low (36% in Spain), and traditional strategies have demonstrated clear limitations (OECD, 2022; Geyer et al., 2017). In response, policymakers are considering innovative mechanisms such as Deposit Refund Systems (DRS). This project seeks to analyze consumer motivations and barriers to adopting such systems, with particular attention to the influence of values, social norms, convenience, and trust in government on willingness to participate.

At the same time, sustainable choices extend well beyond recycling. Research shows that perceptions of risk, stereotypes, and even neurobiological responses play a decisive role in consumer acceptance of sustainable options, including food products, technological goods such as electric vehicles, and financial innovations like cryptocurrencies. This project therefore also investigates the barriers, perceived risks, and stereotypes that limit consumer adoption of sustainable products by combining self-reported measures with neurobiological evidence on cognitive and emotional responses to sustainability claims.
In sum, our research explores how individuals perceive, adopt, or resist circular economy practices ranging from recycling systems to sustainable product choices. By addressing the psychological, cultural, and social drivers of consumer behavior, the project seeks to generate actionable insights that reinforce the institution’s mission to lead the transition toward a more sustainable and circular society.

Main goal: The main goal of this project is to understand the barriers, motivations, risks, and stereotypes that shape consumer engagement with sustainable consumption practices, ranging from the adoption of new recycling systems to broader sustainable product choices.

Budget justification: In order to achieve these goals, the PI, Noelia Jiménez-Asenjo, requests Buy Out time to intensify her research activity and progress toward future accreditation. She is currently co-supervising PhD candidate Adam Radi, whose main supervisor, Dr. Belén Derqui, is on leave. As a result, Dr. Jiménez-Asenjo must assume a greater role in doctoral supervision while also deepening her own research in sustainability and consumer behavior—an additional workload that requires dedicated time and resources to ensure the project’s success.