Frontiers in Environmental Science (Feb 2023)
Narrowing the gap between intention and behavior? An empirical study of farmers’ waste classification in China
Abstract
The source classification of domestic waste is important for protecting China’s rural environment but this is more difficult in rural areas than in urban areas due to the characteristics of farmers in China. This study discussed influencing factors of farmers’ intention and behavior towards domestic waste classification and tried to determine whether there’s a gap between intention and behavior. Based on 833 valid questionnaires in Taihu Lake Basin, a structural model was constructed to achieve the goals of this study. The results show that subjective norms, publicity and education, and classification intention are significantly related to behavior, and attitude is positively related to behavior and intention. Farmers’ intention and behavior had a significant discrepancy with the average values of 4.374 and 3.103, respectively. Publicity and education activities can effectively reduce the degree of gap between them. In addition, attitude, subjective norm and behavior intention have positively moderating effect on publicity and education and waste classification behavior. The findings of this study help understand the status quo of farmers’ behavior and intention of waste classification in Jiangsu Province and provide insights for promoting the development of rural domestic waste classification in China.
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