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Designing Interventions for Behavioral Shifts toward Product Sharing: The Case of Laundry Activities in Japan

This paper presents design approaches to induce behavioral shifts toward product sharing through a case study on laundry activities in Japan. Business models involving provision of temporary access to goods are garnering attention as a way to reduce environmental impacts from the current pattern of consumption. However, the success of such business models is a matter of consumer choice, and there exist hurdles for consumers to forego ownership and transfer to product sharing. To understand the forces that affect consumer behavior involving product sharing and to design effective interventions for behavioral shifts, we conducted in-depth interviews and a web survey. From the results, we specified the decision processes in a behavioral shift between home washing and laundromat use, and generated “implementation of a communal laundromat in an apartment building” as a promising way for consumers to shift toward laundromat use. Based on our calculation, the proposed approach has a potential to reduce environmental impact of a hypothetical community by 1.8% in greenhouse gas emissions and 16% in resource use relative to when only home washing is practiced. Our study provides an example of designing interventions for product sharing through reflecting actual usage patterns and consumer motivations.