A fuzzy DEMATEL approach to identify and mitigate barriers to consumer adoption of sustainable products

Abstract

Despite increasing consumer interest in sustainable products, actual purchase and repeat usage of eco-friendly personal-care items remain disappointingly low. This study employs a fuzzy DEMATEL (Decision-Making Trial and Evaluation Laboratory) approach to systematically identify, quantify, and prioritize the causal relationships among barriers to sustainable-product adoption. A Delphi panel of 15 sustainability experts generated a consensus list of 12 key barriers (economic, psychological, social, technological, and policy-related). Experts provided pairwise influence judgments using a five-point linguistic scale, which were mapped to triangular fuzzy numbers, aggregated, defuzzified, and normalized to yield a crisp total-relation matrix. Cause–effect analysis (D–R and D+R indices) highlighted price premium, perceived greenwashing risk, and limited availability as the dominant root causes. A pilot consumer survey (n = 120 urban millennials in Bengaluru) validated these findings (Pearson’s r = 0.92). Sensitivity analyses across multiple ?-cut levels confirmed the stability of barrier rankings. Leveraging these systemic insights, we propose a three-stage mitigation roadmap—short-term (discount trials, transparency campaigns), medium-term (traceability via blockchain, retail partnerships), and long-term (in-house R&D, policy advocacy)—tailored for an eco-personal-care brand. This work advances fuzzy MCDM methodology by integrating pilot validation and offers actionable guidance for marketers and policymakers aiming to dismantle the complex web of obstacles hindering sustainable-consumption uptake.