Factors influencing residents’ waste management behavior: A case study in Beijing, China

Abstract

With the continuous increase of the total amount of municipal solid waste in China, waste management has become an urgent matter. To address this challenge, the Chinese government recently launched a new waste management system. Previous studies have confirmed the effectiveness of incorporating intrinsic motivation factor into the theory of planned behavior for predicting green behavior, however, the interaction between variables in the model has not been fully explored in the Chinese context. Therefore, this study extended the theory of planned behavior with moral norms to evaluate the household waste management behavior of Beijing residents. With 342 residents as samples, hierarchical multiple regression was used for analysis. The empirical result showed that all determinants in the extended model positively predict behaviors. Moral norms were the most important determinants of behavior, followed by subjective norms, and then perceived behavioral control and attitude. In addition, moral norms played a mediating role in the influence of attitudes and subjective norms on behavior. These findings will help expand and improve understanding of the key factors affecting residential waste management, make reasonable recommendations for environmental protection and sustainable development.