Chapter 5
Consumer’s Perception of Plastics
in Everyday Products in Relation
to Their Personality
Lore Veelaert, Els Du Bois, Laure Herweyers, and Ingrid Moons
Abstract In order to contribute to a circular economy, as designers, we can aim
to assure an extended product lifetime, which can be done following a strategy of
creating product attachment. From a consumer perspective, people tend to identify
themselves with the products they (want to) own and use, reflecting their identities, who they are and how they see themselves. Thus, product attachment can be
positively affected by the congruity with one’s personality. A successful product
needs to fulfil the user’s needs, create meaningful experiences and evoke emotions
to survive in the competitive market, which also counts for the materials that the
product is made of. These materials can be considered from both a technical engineering (production, durability, waste, etc.) and a user-centred experiential perspective (material perception). Therefore, this qualitative research aims to explore the
consumers’ perception of plastic materials in everyday products and its link with
their own personality. The paper describes the results of a mobile survey in which
respondents (n = 195, average age of 29 years) were asked to upload a picture of their
most and least favourite, plastic product that they use in everyday life, to describe
the material(s) it is made of and explain why it (does not) fit with their personality.
By means of content analysis, a categorization was made of the uploaded products and the various characteristics that described the materials and attributed to the
personality fit, and a cluster analysis was done to create four personality clusters of
consumers and their associated material descriptions. We suggest that insights in the
relationship between the consumer’s personality and his/her material preference will
The original version of this chapter was revised: The author group was incorrect. The author group
“Kenichiro Chinen, Hideki Endo, Mitsutaka Matsumoto, and Yongliang Stanley Han” has been
changed to “Lore Veelaert, Els Du Bois, Laure Herweyers, and Ingrid Moons” in the Frontmatter
and in the Chapter. The correction to this chapter is available at https://doi.org/10.1007/978-98115-5580-0_44
L. Veelaert (B) · E. Du Bois · L. Herweyers · I. Moons
Department of Product Development, Faculty of Design Sciences, University of Antwerp,
Antwerp, Belgium
e-mail: lore.veelaert@uantwerpen.be
I. Moons
Department of Marketing, University of Antwerp, Antwerp, Belgium
© Springer Nature Singapore Pte Ltd. 2021
Y. Kishita et al. (eds.), EcoDesign and Sustainability II, Sustainable Production, Life
Cycle Engineering and Management, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-15-6775-9_5
61
Consumer’s Perception of Plastics
in Everyday Products in Relation
to Their Personality
Lore Veelaert, Els Du Bois, Laure Herweyers, and Ingrid Moons
Abstract In order to contribute to a circular economy, as designers, we can aim
to assure an extended product lifetime, which can be done following a strategy of
creating product attachment. From a consumer perspective, people tend to identify
themselves with the products they (want to) own and use, reflecting their identities, who they are and how they see themselves. Thus, product attachment can be
positively affected by the congruity with one’s personality. A successful product
needs to fulfil the user’s needs, create meaningful experiences and evoke emotions
to survive in the competitive market, which also counts for the materials that the
product is made of. These materials can be considered from both a technical engineering (production, durability, waste, etc.) and a user-centred experiential perspective (material perception). Therefore, this qualitative research aims to explore the
consumers’ perception of plastic materials in everyday products and its link with
their own personality. The paper describes the results of a mobile survey in which
respondents (n = 195, average age of 29 years) were asked to upload a picture of their
most and least favourite, plastic product that they use in everyday life, to describe
the material(s) it is made of and explain why it (does not) fit with their personality.
By means of content analysis, a categorization was made of the uploaded products and the various characteristics that described the materials and attributed to the
personality fit, and a cluster analysis was done to create four personality clusters of
consumers and their associated material descriptions. We suggest that insights in the
relationship between the consumer’s personality and his/her material preference will
The original version of this chapter was revised: The author group was incorrect. The author group
“Kenichiro Chinen, Hideki Endo, Mitsutaka Matsumoto, and Yongliang Stanley Han” has been
changed to “Lore Veelaert, Els Du Bois, Laure Herweyers, and Ingrid Moons” in the Frontmatter
and in the Chapter. The correction to this chapter is available at https://doi.org/10.1007/978-98115-5580-0_44
L. Veelaert (B) · E. Du Bois · L. Herweyers · I. Moons
Department of Product Development, Faculty of Design Sciences, University of Antwerp,
Antwerp, Belgium
e-mail: lore.veelaert@uantwerpen.be
I. Moons
Department of Marketing, University of Antwerp, Antwerp, Belgium
© Springer Nature Singapore Pte Ltd. 2021
Y. Kishita et al. (eds.), EcoDesign and Sustainability II, Sustainable Production, Life
Cycle Engineering and Management, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-15-6775-9_5
61