Understanding Chinese Residents’ Waste Classification from a Perspective of Intention–Behavior Gap

Leibao Zhang, Qiuxian Hu, Shuai Zhang and Wenyu Zhang
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Leibao Zhang: School of Public Finance and Taxation, Zhejiang University of Finance and Economics, Hangzhou 310018, China
Qiuxian Hu: School of Public Finance and Taxation, Zhejiang University of Finance and Economics, Hangzhou 310018, China
Shuai Zhang: School of Information Management and Artificial Intelligence, Zhejiang University of Finance and Economics, Hangzhou 310018, China
Wenyu Zhang: School of Information Management and Artificial Intelligence, Zhejiang University of Finance and Economics, Hangzhou 310018, China

Sustainability, 2020, vol. 12, issue 10, 1-19

Abstract: It remains uncertain as to whether people who support waste classification end up transforming such environmental initiation into reality. Thus, to investigate the intention and actual behavior of Chinese residents on waste classification and the influencing factors, this study integrated the theory of planned behavior (TPB) and norm activation model (NAM), and extended them by adding external information factors, namely information publicity type and information quality. A questionnaire survey was conducted in mainland China, and the primary data from 349 individuals were analyzed by partial least squares structural equation modeling (PLS-SEM) to verify the model. The conclusions confirmed that personal norm was a major predictor of residents’ waste classification intention, and there exists a gap between Chinese residents’ waste classification intentions and actual behaviors. Furthermore, strategies such as moral education and information publicity are important in policy implementation. These findings are helpful for Chinese policymakers in promoting and planning waste classification, and also provide experiences to other countries for combating similar waste problems in their metropolises.

Keywords: waste classification; PLS-SEM; theory of planned behavior; norm activation model; intention–behavior gap (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: O13 Q Q0 Q2 Q3 Q5 Q56 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2020
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (8)

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