Assessment of factors influencing pro-circular behavior of a population

Abstract

Circular economy is one of the best alternatives to the existing linear economy. Nowadays, environmental problems are widely discussed not only by scientists but also by politicians and business representatives. However, a number of barriers hinder the transition to a circular economy. Therefore, this paper aimed to determine the factors influencing the pro-environmental behavior of population, which directly affects the implementation of circularity principles. A quantitative approach based on the paradigm of positivism/realism was applied in this study. In the empirical part, the survey included an online questionnaire filled out in 16 regions of the Republic of Kazakhstan, which made for a total of 3448 respondents. The collected data were processed using the SPSS 25 software, and the hypotheses were tested using the Smart PLS 3 program. The results show that circular mindset, circular awareness, and external incentives significantly affect the pro-circular behavior of individuals and encourage shared consumption. This article contributes to the development of the theoretical basis of circular economy concepts and puts forward practical recommendations.