Revealing the determinants of residents' recycling behavior of express delivery packaging: Insights from the network embeddedness

Abstract

Express delivery packaging recycling is necessary to alleviate carbon emissions and environmental pollution, prioritizing residents' recycling efforts. Existing research rarely introduces network embeddedness into individual behavior decision-making, and the research on variables' nonlinear effects needs further exploration. To expand the current research, a theoretical framework from the network embeddedness perspective is constructed and attempts to empirically reveal the possible nonlinear effect of variables with 1042 microdata from five eastern cities in China. The results indicate that network density, heterogeneity, and relational quality promote residents' recycling behavior. Notably, relational strength has a remarkable inverted U-shaped relationship with recycling behavior, with the inflection point falling between 4.55 and 4.56. Norm internalization positively moderates the complex effects of network embeddedness, and impression management strengthening effects of network density and relational strength. The research broadens the application of network embeddedness and provides valuable guidance for policymakers in promoting recycling action.