A Multilevel Circular Economy Repair Society Model: Understanding system-wide implications of normalized product repair from the perspective of the Product User

• Initiatives to upscale repair activities are becoming increasingly common, with the latestbeing the EU commission’s proposal to strengthen consumers’ right to repair. However, theseinitiatives are not viewed comprehensively, particularly not for how they impact the product user’sexperience of the repair process, and what type of repair conditions would emerge once fullyimplemented. This gap exists despite the fundamental need to improve the product user's experienceof repair to normalize repair. Repair upscale initiatives must be understood from the perspective of awider repair system.In this paper, we introduce a multilevel system model as a tool for capturing the wider repair systemfor how it impacts the product user; the experience of normalized repair is conceptualized asconsisting of various transaction costs, risks and benefits - both in terms of finite resourceexpenditures, emotional and cognitive responses - what matters for the experience to beoverarchingly positive. A two-fold modeling approach is employed; first, we look at the repair systemsfrom a strict resource management perspective (i.e., material, physical flows in the repair process) -the objective reality. Then, on top of this perspective, the “product user experience” of these repairflows is added, capturing the subjective experience and how the solutions to bringing the desiredrepair flows about can create vastly different conditions for product users.This model allows for systematic discerning and capturing of the comprehensive implications of highersystem level processes for the individual product user.

Subject headings

TEKNIK OCH TEKNOLOGIER  -- Naturresursteknik (hsv//swe)

ENGINEERING AND TECHNOLOGY  -- Environmental Engineering (hsv//eng)

Publication and Content Type

kon (subject category)

vet (subject category)