Endogenous Circularity and Eco-label Scepticism in Cameroonian Cities — Dataset

Background. Urban households in Cameroon extensively reuse plastic containers for domestic, economic, and food-safety purposes. This behavior constitutes an endogenous circular economy that has developed prior to and independently of any institutional environmental messaging. Yet sustainability policies continue deploying eco-label systems designed around exogenous normative frameworks, ignoring these pre-existing practices. The resulting credibility gap between local praxis and institutional signals remains poorly theorized in Sub-Saharan marketing literature. Theoretical framework. Drawing on signal credibility theory (Erdem & Swait, 1998), Bourdieu's practice theory (1980), packaging semiotics (Barthes, 1964; Floch, 1990), and cognitive dissonance theory (Festinger, 1957) with operationalized measures, this study proposes an integrated model of endogenous circularity, scepticism toward eco-labels, and purchasing behavior. Methods. A sequential mixed-methods design was employed. Qualitative phase: 22 semi-structured interviews across four Cameroonian cities, analyzed thematically (Braun & Clarke, 2006; inter-rater kappa = 0.81). Quantitative phase: structural equation modelling (SEM) with the weighted least squares mean and variance adjusted (WLSMV) estimator in AMOS 26, N = 640, 5,000 bootstrap iterations. Findings. Reuse frequency significantly predicts eco-label scepticism (H1 supported: β = 0.48, p < .001). Signal credibility does not significantly predict green-packaged purchase behavior (H2 rejected: β = 0.12, p = .18). The indirect mediation chain is non-significant (H3 rejected: β = −0.027, 95% CI [−0.082; 0.013]). Reuse practices predict perceived eco-social value (H4 partially supported: β = 0.61, p < .001, R² = .37), but this measure captures perceived rather than objectively measured value. Critically, the overall model explains only 1.4% of actual purchase behavior variance (R² = .014), which severely constrains policy implications. Implications. Findings are bounded to four Cameroonian urban contexts and should not be extrapolated to sub-Saharan Africa broadly. Practical recommendations are offered with explicit acknowledgment of the model's limited predictive power, favoring participatory co-design of environmental signals over top-down institutional mandates.