SOCIAL INFLUENCE AND REPAIR INTENTIONS AMONG CONSUMER ELECTRONICS USERS: IMPLICATIONS FOR SUSTAINABLE CONSUMPTION AND CIRCULAR ECONOMY PRACTICES

The purpose of this study is to explore the contribution of social influence which encourages the consumer to exercise repair of electronic products. We all know that individual or community are more meticulous and fussier when it comes to social activity, for this consumer chose social media to give information and receive information. Public opinion is driving force behind the consistency of group principles and values. To explore the untapped area this study attempts to investigates the dominance of social influence among consumers for crafting their electronic products repair intention, league with Right to Repair. The research design is formulated with a structured questionnaire with four key elements related to social influence: normative, informational, identification, and internalization. These indicators were analyzed to understand consumers intention towards repair. Totally 155 consumers from Chennai, Tamil Nadu, India were taken as respondent for the survey. The examination of the finding done using Partial Least Square Structural Equation Modelling- PLS SEM. Reliability test confirmed with the values ranging from 0.71 to 0.89 for the dimensions. Based on the dimension hypothesis were studied critically. The R² =0.610 indicates the model fit with the four dimensions supports towards repair intention. The study denotes the significant connection between social influences and consumer repair intention. Through the literatures and analysis, it is determined that consumers feelings, emotions, behaviors and belied are crafted by social influence. The study highly recommends the policy makers to utilize the social influence platform to promote right to repair among consumers. This will practically in build the repair culture for betterment of circular economy