What determines the battery recycling behavior of electric bike users?: Introducing recycling convenience into the theory of planned behavior

Abstract

To protect the environment, China attaches great importance to waste lead-acid battery recycling of electric bikes (e-bikes). If China wants to do a good job in recycling, it cannot do without the strong support of e-bike users. The research introduces recycling convenience into the theory of planned behavior (TPB) to verify the impact of recycling convenience on user behavior. The structural equation model (SEM) was used to investigate the recycling behavior of 429 e-bike users in Tangshan, China. The results show that attitude, subjective norms, and recycling convenience all can affect e-bike users' behavior intention positively and significantly, while perceived behavior control can not affect intention significantly. Simultaneously, this study established the beneficial and significant effects that perceived behavior control and behavior intention can have on e-bike users' recycling behavior. In addition, the study also verified that recycling convenience can indirectly affect users' recycling intention by influencing users’ attitude and subjective norms, indicating that this extended theoretical framework of planned behavior is appropriate for e-bike user behavior research.