Understanding Waste Management Behavior Among University Students in China: Environmental Knowledge, Personal Norms, and the Theory of Planned Behavior.

Lingqiong Wu,Junqing Zhai,Yan Zhu

doi:10.3389/fpsyg.2021.771723

Lingqiong Wu, Junqing Zhai + Show 1 more

Open Access

https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2021.771723

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Abstract

Previous studies have confirmed that individual waste management behavior is influenced by both rational-based and altruistic-oriented beliefs and attitudes. Scholars incorporated personal norms in Ajzen’s theory of planned behavior and confirmed its usefulness in predicting waste management behavior. However, limited attention has been paid to the interactions between the variables in the model. Scholars also commented that the cognitive dimension was largely neglected in the current socio-psychological framework of waste management behavior. This study intends to address this issue by incorporating environmental concern and environmental knowledge in the model and examining the psychological paths linking these variables to waste management behavior within the expanded model of planned behavior. Based on a cross-sectional survey among 434 university students in China, the results showed that subjective norms, perceived behavioral control, personal norms, and environmental knowledge were essential predictors of waste management behavior, whereas the direct effect of attitude was not statistically significant. Environmental concern and subjective norms could influence waste management behavior through personal norms. Environmental knowledge could influence waste management behavior indirectly through environmental concern, personal norms, and perceived behavioral control. Moreover, perceived behavioral control served as a mediator between the relationship of personal norms and waste management behavior.

Highlights

Solid waste issue is one of the major issues in most countries at a global scale today (Abdel-Shafy and Mansour, 2018)
The results showed that subjective norms, perceived behavioral control, personal norms, and environmental knowledge significantly predicted waste management behavior
The present study responded to a call for increased focus on waste management behavior of young adults by examining an expanded model of the theory of planned behavior (TPB) among university student populations in China

Summary

Introduction

Solid waste issue is one of the major issues in most countries at a global scale today (Abdel-Shafy and Mansour, 2018). With an emerging consumer society and University Students’ Waste Management Behavior a large population of over 1.4 billion, China is among the countries facing the most serious effects of solid waste pollution (Zhou et al, 2017). To address this issue, China has implemented a series of laws and regulations on solid waste management, and initiated national programs to promote energy conservation awareness and environmentally responsible lifestyle in recent years. A wider spectrum of waste management behavior which includes reduction, reuse, and recycling was highlighted in the trail version of Citizen’s Ecological Environment Behavior Standard (the Ministry of Ecology and Environment, 2018) to guide environmental education practice in China. If the most effective educational intervention is to be guaranteed, socio-psychological factors that are critical as well as the mechanisms through which these factors contribute to predicting waste management behavior should be studied

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