Stakeholder perceptions of wood-based products in the built environment : a literature review

Abstract

Current global environmental challenges, such as climate change, set an urge to seek renewable low-emission alternatives to substitute fossil fuel-derived products while transitioning towards circular bioeconomy. Wood has proven to be a versatile renewable material that is able to substitute fossil-based materials. However, the market potential and uptake of wood-based products is also dependent on the preferences of consumers and other stakeholder groups. This paper presents a systematic literature review of studies examining stakeholder perceptions of wood-based products, which also resulted in the identification of research gaps and suggestions for future research directions. The results show that while there has been an adequate amount of research concerning perceptions of wood construction and wood products in the built environment especially in recent years, the perceptions of other wood-based products and emerging innovations, such as wood-based textiles and chemicals have previously been studied only marginally. The results show that relevant stakeholders can be divided into two major groups: professionals at different places in the forest products value chain and end-users. Stakeholders are interested in wood-based products in the built environment, seen as competitive to conventional non-wood alternatives. Wood-based products are seen as interesting and environmentally friendly, but also expensive and not easily available. Moreover, there is a lack of information regarding product characteristics. To improve the market share of especially new wood-based products, the focus needs to be on both product development as well as providing information, including information on the environmental performance, on different products.