Title: Refurbished products in the circular economy: understanding perceived risks and vendor scepticism

Authors: Sridevi Periaiya; Sathish Thamburasa; Manoraj Natarajan; Subhashree Prabhakaran

Addresses: Department of Management Studies, National Institute of Technology Tiruchirappalli, Tamil Nadu 620015, India ' Department of Management Studies, National Institute of Technology Tiruchirappalli, Tamil Nadu 620015, India ' Department of Management Studies, National Institute of Technology Tiruchirappalli, Tamil Nadu 620015, India ' Department of Management Studies, National Institute of Technology Tiruchirappalli, Tamil Nadu 620015, India

Abstract: A circular economy is an appropriate technique for addressing the scarcity of raw materials and the rise of hazardous waste. It has enormous potential to recover value with used products and promote environmental sustainability. Refurbished products are part of the circular economy. Refurbished products are used products that are repaired, rebuilt, and tested by the company to perform as intended by the manufacturer. This study aims to fill the gap in the literature by examining the effect of perceived risks on vendor scepticism regarding refurbished products, as well as the impact of vendor scepticism on purchase embarrassment and concealment. The study uses the theory of perceived risk to understand how consumers perceive the risks. The results of the study suggest that many risk factors do not significantly impact vendor scepticism, except illegitimate product risk and displeasure risk, vendor scepticism has a significant impact on purchase embarrassment and concealment.

Keywords: refurbished products; scepticism; circular economy; closed-loop supply chain; CLSC; perceived risk.

DOI: 10.1504/IJENM.2025.149556

International Journal of Enterprise Network Management, 2025 Vol.16 No.3, pp.222 - 241

Received: 04 Oct 2023
Accepted: 22 Aug 2024
Published online: 07 Nov 2025 *

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