AUTHOR=Ding Zhikun , Zhang Zhiyu , Chen Weilin 

TITLE=The Influence of Media in Purchasing Decisions for Recycled Construction and Demolition Waste Products: An Functional Near Infrared Spectroscopy Study

JOURNAL=Frontiers in Neuroscience

VOLUME=Volume 16 - 2022

YEAR=2022

URL=https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/neuroscience/articles/10.3389/fnins.2022.881537

DOI=10.3389/fnins.2022.881537

ISSN=1662-453X

ABSTRACT=As an inevitable problem in the development of the construction industry, the hazard caused by construction and demolition (C&D) waste is becoming more and more serious. To achieve sustainable development, the recycling of C&D waste has begun to receive extensive attention from stakeholders. In recent years, many countries have also successively launched many policies to encourage and guide the recycling of C&D waste, which has greatly improved the recycling rate of C&D waste. However, most of these policies only regulate contractors, but do not promote C&D waste recycling products enough. This has led to a gradual increase in the production of C&D waste recycling products while the acceptance in the market is generally low. Consumers believe that products made with "garbage" may have problems such as quality defects. Therefore, this research used functional near-infrared spectroscopy (fNIRS) to explore whether the influence of media can enhance consumers' willingness to purchase recycled C&D waste products. The behavioral results showed that the choice of recycled C&D waste products was significantly higher after the intervention than before. The fNIRS results further revealed that the activation of the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (dlPFC), orbitofrontal cortex (OFC) and medial prefrontal cortex (mPFC) was significantly higher after the intervention compared to before. These findings suggest that consumers’ purchase willingness is significantly improved after intervention, and their purchase behavior changed substantially. This study also demonstrates the great potential of fNIRS for interdisciplinary research of engineering management and neuroscience.