Perceived Consumer Effectiveness as A Trigger of Behavioral Spillover Effects: A path towards Recycling

Claudia Arias and Carlos Trujillo
Additional contact information
Claudia Arias: CESA School of Business, 110311 Bogotá, Colombia

Sustainability, 2020, vol. 12, issue 11, 1-17

Abstract: Increasing and promoting recycling is crucial to achieving sustainable consumption. However, this is a complex task that involves the interplay of beliefs, knowledge and situational factors in ways not yet understood. This study examines a spill-over model in which perceived consumer effectiveness influences the adoption of an easy task (carrying reusable shopping bags) and that, in turn, influences recycling. Using data from a national survey with a representative sample of 1286 respondents in Colombia, we test a hypothesized path using a mediation model. Our results suggest that the relationship between perceived consumer effectiveness and recycling is mediated by the use of reusable shopping bags. Thus, once the adoption of simple pro-environmental behavior is triggered by pro-environmental beliefs, spillover effects may ensue to favor the adoption of recycling behavior. This suggests that individuals may adopt pro-environmental behavior in stages or levels. Therefore, focusing on behaviors that require less effort (e.g., reducing/reusing) could be a starting point when it comes to encouraging the adoption of other behaviors that demand a greater level of effort such as recycling. This study suggests that attitudinal variables can be the starting point of spill-over effects.

Keywords: recycling; perceived consumer effectiveness (PCE); stepped behavior; pro-environmental behavior; spillovers (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 (2)

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/12/11/4348/pdf (application/pdf)
https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/12/11/4348/ (text/html)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:12:y:2020:i:11:p:4348-:d:363049

Access Statistics for this article

Sustainability is currently edited by Ms. Alexandra Wu

More articles in Sustainability from MDPI
Bibliographic data for series maintained by MDPI Indexing Manager ().