18
S. J. Zafarmand
be the most directly related to the product’s psychological or subjective lifetime (Nes
and Cramer 2005).
As emotional bonding may increase a product’s lifetime (Mugge et al. 2009),
extending the psychological lifespan of durables and increasing the degree of
consumer-product attachment could be instrumental in reducing both the demand for
scarce resources and the rate of solid waste disposal and may contribute to a more
sustainable society (Hinte 1997; Mugge et al. 2004; Govers and Mugge 2004; Schifferstein and Zwartkruis-Pelgrim 2008). The strategy of enhancing product attachment, however, brings many challenges (Nv and Cramer 2003). According to the
author’s previous researches’ findings, there are at least two other effective trends
than just product attachment that could be used for extending the psychological lifetime of such short-lived product as mobile phone (Zafarmand et al. 2009a, b). In fact,
the important subjective issues about a product may include the user’s total attitude,
feeling, affection, emotion and/or appreciation in addition to user-product attachment. Such subjective issues could be professionally called Kansei (Childs et al.
2006; Lee et al. 2002; Schütte et al. 2008) rather than any other term like emotion.
The term ‘subjective sustainability’ has been used as a versatile and wide concept
in the literatures of various fields such as social sciences (Becker and Jahn 1999)
public policy (Tierney 2003), forest management (Smith et al. 2001), urban design
(Jacob and Brinkerhoff 1999; Kemp and Martens 2007; Castello 2006; Gosh and
Vale 2009) and package design (Salazar 2008). Nonetheless, the definite territory of
‘subjective sustainability’ has not been identified clearly or explained well within
the literature.
Within the author’s previous research, as the initiation of this research, “a product’s
capability of being pleasing, appealing and satisfyingly enduring during its expected
long/short lifetime” particularly was named ‘Product Subjective Sustainability’
(PSjS). Nevertheless, PSjS could be expanded to generally embrace all subjective
issues of how a product reflects or affects sustainability values (Zafarmand et al.
2011). This concept was first proposed at IASDR 2009 conference (Zafarmand et al.
2009) and then expanded at EcoDesign 2009 international symposium (Zafarmand
et al. 2009).
2.2 Framework
In this research, the evolution of users’ Kansei toward their short/long-lived products
over the entire lifetime of products is analyzed in order to clarify PSjS through Kansei
Engineering approach (Lee et al. 2002; Schütte et al. 2008). The entire lifetime of
the product from the user’s perspective is here divided into three main lifecycle
stages: Purchase (P); Keep or Use (KU); and end, throw away or Replace (R). This
framework is to approach PSjS experientially and expand it analytically.
Considering the following points, mobile phone, private passenger car and traditional are designated, respectively, as the short and long-lived product cases for this
S. J. Zafarmand
be the most directly related to the product’s psychological or subjective lifetime (Nes
and Cramer 2005).
As emotional bonding may increase a product’s lifetime (Mugge et al. 2009),
extending the psychological lifespan of durables and increasing the degree of
consumer-product attachment could be instrumental in reducing both the demand for
scarce resources and the rate of solid waste disposal and may contribute to a more
sustainable society (Hinte 1997; Mugge et al. 2004; Govers and Mugge 2004; Schifferstein and Zwartkruis-Pelgrim 2008). The strategy of enhancing product attachment, however, brings many challenges (Nv and Cramer 2003). According to the
author’s previous researches’ findings, there are at least two other effective trends
than just product attachment that could be used for extending the psychological lifetime of such short-lived product as mobile phone (Zafarmand et al. 2009a, b). In fact,
the important subjective issues about a product may include the user’s total attitude,
feeling, affection, emotion and/or appreciation in addition to user-product attachment. Such subjective issues could be professionally called Kansei (Childs et al.
2006; Lee et al. 2002; Schütte et al. 2008) rather than any other term like emotion.
The term ‘subjective sustainability’ has been used as a versatile and wide concept
in the literatures of various fields such as social sciences (Becker and Jahn 1999)
public policy (Tierney 2003), forest management (Smith et al. 2001), urban design
(Jacob and Brinkerhoff 1999; Kemp and Martens 2007; Castello 2006; Gosh and
Vale 2009) and package design (Salazar 2008). Nonetheless, the definite territory of
‘subjective sustainability’ has not been identified clearly or explained well within
the literature.
Within the author’s previous research, as the initiation of this research, “a product’s
capability of being pleasing, appealing and satisfyingly enduring during its expected
long/short lifetime” particularly was named ‘Product Subjective Sustainability’
(PSjS). Nevertheless, PSjS could be expanded to generally embrace all subjective
issues of how a product reflects or affects sustainability values (Zafarmand et al.
2011). This concept was first proposed at IASDR 2009 conference (Zafarmand et al.
2009) and then expanded at EcoDesign 2009 international symposium (Zafarmand
et al. 2009).
2.2 Framework
In this research, the evolution of users’ Kansei toward their short/long-lived products
over the entire lifetime of products is analyzed in order to clarify PSjS through Kansei
Engineering approach (Lee et al. 2002; Schütte et al. 2008). The entire lifetime of
the product from the user’s perspective is here divided into three main lifecycle
stages: Purchase (P); Keep or Use (KU); and end, throw away or Replace (R). This
framework is to approach PSjS experientially and expand it analytically.
Considering the following points, mobile phone, private passenger car and traditional are designated, respectively, as the short and long-lived product cases for this