Psychological correlates of e-waste recycling intentions and behaviors: A meta-analysis

Abstract

E-waste recycling is important for environmental sustainability. Despite the well-established infrastructure in place, only a small portion of users recycle e-waste. The present meta-analysis aimed to investigate the strength of key theory-based correlates of e-waste recycling intentions and behavior. We focused on hypothesized relationships between constructs from four relevant theories (i.e., extended theory of planned behavior, value-belief-norm theory, habit theories, and behavioral reasoning theory). A total of 36 studies were included in the final selection. Studies were coded for four moderators of model effects: age, gender, region of data collection, and study quality. Effect sizes from 37 samples (N = 18,410) were analyzed through bare-bones and psychometric meta-analysis. Consistently with the assumptions of the theory of planned behavior, the relationship between e-waste recycling intentions and actual behavioral outcomes had a very large effect size. Attitudes, policy effectiveness, and convenience were shown to be related to e-waste recycling intentions with very large effect sizes. Studies included presented high heterogeneity. In the final part of the manuscript, we explore methods for pinpointing potential intervention strategies aimed at facilitating e-waste recycling.