Consumer behaviour and disposition decisions: The why and how of smartphone disposition

Although scholars describe consumer behaviour as a process of acquisition, consumption, and disposition, limited research is done on disposition decisions, especially in the context of emerging economies. This paper looks into the early work of Jacoby et al. (1977) and the recent seminal work of Cruz-Cardenaz and Arevalo-Chavez (2017) to determine the relationships between external influences and various disposition decisions on smartphones. In particular, it investigates the effect of brand, price, usefulness, compatibility, product attachment and social influence on three types of disposition decisions. A quantitative approach using a self-administered survey was appropriated. The questionnaire was distributed at the universities in Malaysia, and was subsequently collected from those sites with an acceptable response rate. Partial least squares structural equation modeling (PLS-SEM) was utilized to perform path modeling analysis. The results show that usefulness, product attachment, and compatibility have positive effects on students’ decisions to keep their smartphones. While low product attachment and social influence affect them to dispose their smartphones temporarily, the depreciation of value causes them to discard smartphones permanently. Remarkably, brand and price have no significant impact on disposition decisions, indicating that the function of the smartphone, rather than the device itself, matters more in disposition decisions. The study thus provides more insights into consumer behaviour and its implications on sustainable consumption.