Determinants of Individuals’ E-Waste Recycling Decision: A Case Study from Romania

Camelia Delcea, Liliana Crăciun, Corina Ioanăș, Gabriella Ferruzzi and Liviu-Adrian Cotfas
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Camelia Delcea: Department of Economic Informatics and Cybernetics, Bucharest University of Economic Studies, 010552 Bucharest, Romania
Liliana Crăciun: Department of Economics and Economic Policies, Bucharest University of Economic Studies, 010552 Bucharest, Romania
Corina Ioanăș: Department of Accounting, Bucharest University of Economic Studies, 010552 Bucharest, Romania
Gabriella Ferruzzi: Department of Industrial Engineering, University of Naples Federico II, 80125 Naples, Italy
Liviu-Adrian Cotfas: Department of Economic Informatics and Cybernetics, Bucharest University of Economic Studies, 010552 Bucharest, Romania

Sustainability, 2020, vol. 12, issue 7, 1-28

Abstract: Due to the increase of the amount of electrical and electronical equipment waste (e-waste), the understanding of individual consumers’ main decision triggers represents a key point in increasing the quantity of recycled e-waste. A series of studies from the literature have shown a positive relationship between the consumers’ attitude, awareness, self-efficacy, social norms, and their e-waste recycling intention, as well as the positive influence between the intention and the manifested behavior. Additional to these determinants, in the present study, the influence of social media was analyzed along with the actions taken by the government and nongovernmental organizations, with the purpose to include and to capture, as much as possible, a high amount of determinants in the e-waste recycling process. Nevertheless, the demographic or socio-economic variables, such as age, gender, income, education, number of family members, etc., have shown over time to have a contribution to predicting the consumers’ pro-recycling behavior. As on one side, in the research literature, the opinions related to which of the demographic or socio-economic factors can have an impact on the recycling behavior have been divided and, on another side, a series of researchers believe that the discrepancies in the findings of different studies can be due to culture in various countries, in this paper we conducted such an analysis with reference to the Romania’s case. The results have shown that the demographic variables, such as age and gender, can have a contribution to predicting residents’ pro-e-waste recycling behavior. Based on these findings, the policymakers can gain a better understanding of the e-waste recycling phenomenon and on its main triggers, with results in creating better policies for sustaining a proper e-waste managing system.

Keywords: e-waste recycling; consumers’ decisions; recycling behavioral intention; structural equation modeling; Romania; social media influence (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 (4)

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