What Stops Consumers from Purchasing Refurbished Smartphones?

Smartphones have a short lifespan and are often replaced in today’s fast-paced market. As a result, refurbishment has become an essential method for extracting values from devices. Therefore, people worldwide are increasingly turning to digital device recycling platforms to sell, trade in, or recycle smartphones, highlighting their growing significance. However, several challenges may hinder the widespread adoption of refurbished smartphones among consumers. While previous studies have primarily focused on the general factors and individual differences that affect the decision-making process for buying refurbished products, research on resistance towards refurbished products is still in the early stages and seems to be quite limited. Therefore, it is essential to comprehend consumers’ decision-making processes to boost their intention to purchase refurbished smartphones. To fill this gap, the main objective of this study was to identify and analyze the factors that act as barriers to consumers when purchasing a refurbished smartphone. Drawing on the innovation resistance theory, we developed a research model to explore the relationship between theory-driven adoption barriers (specifically, usage, value, risk, tradition, and image) and consumer resistance. To test the proposed model, data were collected through a cross-sectional online survey of 430 individuals who neither owned nor expressed a desire to purchase a refurbished smartphone. The collected data were analyzed using partial least-squares structural equation modeling. The results show that value, tradition, and image barriers positively influence consumer resistance to refurbished smartphones, whereas the role of usage and risk barriers received no empirical support. The proposed model explains 61% of the variance in resistance intention, which indicates a significant explanation for consumers’ resistance to refurbished smartphones. This study contributes to the theoretical understanding by elucidating how usage, value, risk, tradition, and image barriers interact with consumer resistance in the context of refurbished smartphones.