Recycling: Social norms and warm-glow revisited

Andrew Abbott, Shasikanta Nandeibam and Lucy O'Shea

Ecological Economics, 2013, vol. 90, issue C, 10-18

Abstract: We examine the role of social norms and warm-glow in a theoretical framework and establish that improving the quality of recycling facilities, for example through kerbside collection, will elicit more recycling effort if warm-glow is present. Drawing on the literature, we model the role of social norms with reference to age profile, ethnicity and geographical location of the reference group. Using English local authority data, we show that a social norm for recycling does exist. We find the expected relationship between the quality of kerbside provision and recycling activity, if the household derives warm-glow from the activity; however, it is insignificant. Amongst the control variables, we find evidence that multifamily dwellings recycle less.

Keywords: Intrinsic motives; Recycling; Social norms; Warm-glow (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: O18 Q58 R11 R15 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2013
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (69)

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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:eee:ecolec:v:90:y:2013:i:c:p:10-18

DOI: 10.1016/j.ecolecon.2013.02.015

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