What explains the intention to bring mobile phones for recycling? A study on university students in China and Germany

Evgeniya Yushkova () and Yunting Feng ()
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Evgeniya Yushkova: University of Wuppertal
Yunting Feng: Shanghai Jiao Tong University

International Economics and Economic Policy, 2017, vol. 14, issue 3, No 7, 516 pages

Abstract: Abstract The analysis investigates the determinants of the intention to bring mobile phones for recycling. The paper is based on data regarding the determinants of bringing mobile phones for recycling collected from university students in Autumn 2016 (N = 1013) in both the Chinese and German academia. Using structural equation modeling, we examine the direct and indirect effects of social norms, knowledge about the environmental benefits of recycling and a pro-environmental attitude on the intention to recycle mobile phones. We find confirmation that attitude, social norms, and knowledge contribute positively and significantly to the intention to bring phones for recycling. As for three mediating effects tested, attitude mediates the relationship between knowledge and intention, as well as between social norms and intention. Knowledge as a mediator between social norms and attitude does not have a highly significant effect. Looking at the results of the Chinese and German sub-samples, we find that social norms have no direct effect on intention for the German sub-sample, but an indirect one through attitude. Knowledge has no significant effect for the German sub-sample. Results for the Chinese sub-sample indicate an indirect effect of social norms on attitude via knowledge, while knowledge itself has an indirect effect on intention through attitude.

Keywords: Recycling intention; Mobile phones; Theory of planned behavior; Q53 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2017
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Citations: View citations in EconPapers (6)

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DOI: 10.1007/s10368-017-0383-5

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