Value-belief-norm Research Articles

Understanding residents' engagement for the protection of urban green spaces by enriching the value‐belief‐norm theory with relational values—A case study of Munich (Germany)

Abstract Urban green spaces (UGS) provide mechanisms through which people connect and interact with each other, strengthening social relationships as well as human‐nature connections, both of high relevance for sustainable development. However, what determines urban residents' engagement in activities for the protection of UGS still lacks a systematic understanding. Our study aims to address this gap by enriching the value‐belief‐norm (VBN) theory with relational values based on a questionnaire (N = 221) among residents engaging in UGS maintenance in the city of Munich (Germany). Exploratory factor analysis and structural equation modelling showed that both individual responsibility and societal responsibility guide urban residents in their actions towards UGS protection. Furthermore, we found a direct impact of biospheric, altruistic and hedonic values on engagement for the protection of UGS. Therefore, this study signals the importance of investing in actively promoting pluralistic values among urban residents as cities today urgently need a reconnection of the human‐nature relationship and UGS stewardship actions. As we further confirm that relational values have impact on the constructs of the VBN theory, we conclude with a plea for recognizing the potential of relational values as enablers of change towards more responsible behaviours towards urban nature. Read the free Plain Language Summary for this article on the Journal blog.

Unleashing the potential of social media celebrities to promote food waste reduction in educational institutions: developing an extended model based on the value-belief-norm theory

PurposeThis study aims to provide insights into the drivers of student engagement in food waste reduction strategies in educational institutions. The proposed research model integrates social media celebrities' attractiveness, expertise and trustworthiness with the value belief norm (VBN) theory to explore their influence on students' behaviour towards food waste reduction.Design/methodology/approachThe data were collected from 417 students enrolled in public and private universities in the Riyadh and Macca regions of Saudi Arabia to evaluate the proposed model. The partial least squares-structural equation modelling (PLS-SEM) was employed to analyse the responses.FindingsThe results showed that VBN theory's components, such as values (biospheric, altruistic and egoistic), beliefs (new ecological paradigm, awareness of consequences and aspirations of responsibility) and norms significantly and positively influence food waste reduction behavioural intentions. It was also discovered from the results that social media celebrities' attractiveness, expertise and trustworthiness influence food waste reduction behavioural intentions.Originality/valueThis study contributes significantly to the literature by identifying factors influencing student engagement in food waste reduction strategies in educational institutions where limited research exists. It fills this research gap by developing a novel theoretical framework integrating social media celebrities' attributes with the VBN theory to explain these factors.

Optimizing Electric Vehicle Battery Management Systems for Enhanced Performance and Efficiency in the Automotive Sector

Automotive means of transportation has become the major and cheapest means transportation in Nigeria. This fact has put more pressure on manufacturers to provide customers with high quality Automobiles with the aim of making profits. Nowadays, manufacturers are faced with a major problem in the management of information within a manufacturing plant and creation of effective relationship with customers. As an approach to solving these problems, a detailed analysis is carried out on the existing system to find out the strength and weaknesses of the existing system. And based on the requirements generated, the new system is designed. An Object Oriented design approach is used to describe the various units (modules) that make up the system in terms of classes and objects. The design and development of an Automotive Plant Management system for a manufacturing company is a project developed with PHP, MySQL, Ajax, HTML, JavaScript and Jquery Plugins, it provided better and more efficient management of information generated from Human Resource, Inventory, Company Finance and also Customer Relationship Management In recent years, the surge in the adoption of electric vehicles has played a vital role in reducin fossil fuel consumption and greenhouse gas emissions. However, limited cross-national research has been conducted on the determinants of electric vehicle adoption in developing and developed countries. This study examines the factors influencing the intention to adopt electric vehicles in India (378 participants) and Spain (265 participants). This study develops an integrated model that combines the unified theory of acceptance and use of technology (UTAUT2) and the value-belief-norm (VBN) model while accounting for the impact of national culture. The model is tested using structural equation modeling. The results indicate the integrated UTAUT2-VBN model is a valuable tool for explaining the differences in adoption intention across cultures. Moreover, the national cultural system plays a significant moderating role in most relationships within the model. This study offers valuable insights into the factors influencing electric vehicle adoption in different cultural contexts, which can inform policies and strategies to promote sustainable transportation.

Modelling the significance of value-belief-norm framework to predict mass adoption potentials of internet of things-enabled wearable fitness devices

Self-health monitoring technologies have become increasingly popular in averting unanticipated health complications. However, the adoption rate of such technologies in developing countries is surprisingly low. Furthermore, empirical studies on the application of the value-belief-norm (VBN) model to elucidate intention to use IoT-enabled wearable fitness devices (IoT-enabled WFDs) are scarce. This study aimed to expand the VBN model by integrating health values, health consciousness, health knowledge-seeking, and social norms as influencing constructs. The proposed holistic framework was empirically tested to examine these constructs on users' decision-making process of adopting IoT-enabled WFDs. A web-based survey involving 866 adults in China aged 18–30 years was conducted. The gathered data were analysed using partial least squares-structural equation modeling. The results revealed the significant influence of health consciousness and health knowledge-seeking on personal health beliefs, as well as the favourable impact of personal health beliefs on personal norms and awareness of consequences. The results further demonstrated the substantial influence of awareness of consequences and ascription of responsibilities on personal norms. Besides that, personal norms and societal norms were found to have strong influence on the intention to adopt IoT-enabled WFDs, which was revealed to have significant influence on the actual usage. This study's findings offer novel theoretical insights on the behavioural characteristics of adopting IoT-enabled WFDs and serve as a practical guideline for industry experts and marketers to establish appropriate marketing strategies to support the IoT-enabled wearable sector. The findings also benefit policymakers in their efforts of developing strategies that emphasise the unique benefits of self-healthcare monitoring to encourage active lifestyle and decrease obesity and overweight-related health risks.

Explaining sustainable purchase behavior in online flight booking—combining value-belief-norm model and theory of planned behavior

This article of the journal Gruppe. Interaktion. Organisation. focuses on the factors that influence CO2 offsetting behavior when booking flights. By combining the Value Belief Norm model (VBN) and the Theory of Planned Behavior (TPB), the study investigates which factors generally influence people’s willingness and behavior to make CO2 offsets for air travel. In addition, a concrete booking process is used to experimentally test how high the actual willingness to pay is in this situation and how much it depends on the representation. An online survey with a partially experimental design yielded 514 usable data sets. The results of the structural equation model essentially confirmed the assumptions of the VBN and TPB theories regarding the influence on compensation behavior, with the personal norm being the most important influencing factor. However, the specific fictitious booking process revealed the special role of price: the cheapest compensation packages always had the highest choice probabilities, and absolute price did not play a role. This was confirmed in qualitative analyses. The results expand previous knowledge on factors influencing CO2 compensation behavior and provide flight providers with important information for designing their CO2 compensation offers.

Organic food production among Chinese urban botanists

Organic food production is recognized by most countries and regions worldwide as a method of ecological and environmental protection because traditional agricultural practices significantly use pesticides and other chemicals, creating severe issues regarding the ecological, environmental, and food safety issues. Most research on organic production focuses on large-scale organic production. This study focuses on growing noncommercial, small-scale urban organic food using the value-belief-norm (VBN) model to explore the pro-environmental behavior regarding organic food production from a psychological perspective. We employed nonprobability sampling because of the absence of a sampling framework for the target population. We obtained a sample of 621 respondents from noncommercial urban botanists in China followed by quantitative methods to examine the relationships among variables using partial least squares structural equation modeling. This study focused on organic food behavior by modifying the VBN theory, which built trust in organic food production methods and developed a structural equation model to explain the underlying motivational factors that influenced the propensity to grow organic food. Finally, the path analysis results demonstrated that all hypothesized associations were statistically significant, except for the ecological worldview on personal norms and trust in organic food production, and personal norms on intention toward organic food production. Overall, the results of this study verify the validity of the VBN theory in the context of organic food consumption as a pro-environmental behavior. Therefore, relevant departments and governments should take measures to promote organic food production in China from a psychological perspective.

Tourists’ pro-environmental behaviour in an autonomous vehicle’s adoption: aligning the integration of value-belief-norm theory and the theory of planned behaviour

ABSTRACT Automated vehicles powered by artificial intelligence (AI) represent some of the most disruptive technologies with broad social implications, including increasing safety for travelers and drivers, protecting the environment, and upholding equity. This study aims to develop a unified conceptual framework combining the value-belief-norm (VBN) theory with the theory of planned behaviour (TPB) to understand how tourists accept autonomous vehicles. The PLS-SEM results of 586 tourists’ data show that altruistic and biospheric values positively affect the awareness of consequences, whereas egoistic values negatively affect it. Moreover, the findings of this study validate the suggested relationships between value-based constructs, including awareness of consequences, ascription of responsibility, and pro-environmental personal norms. The relationship between behavioural intention and pro-environmental personal norms was confirmed by attitudes toward behaviour, subjective norms, and perceived behavioural control. This study offers theoretical and practical implications that enhance the likelihood of travelers’ acceptance of autonomous vehicles.

Adoption of conservative agricultural practices among rural Chinese farmers

Excessive use of agrochemicals and the misuse of natural resources severely degrade farmlands. In addition to organic farming, conservative agricultural practices are one of the most viable methods for preventing environmental deterioration. Its adoption has remained relatively modest in developing countries as farmers rely exclusively on synthetic inputs to attain high yields and economic returns. Therefore, this study focuses on the factors that influence farmers’ intention and adoption of conservative agricultural practices. This study extended the Value-Belief-Norm (VBN) framework with a new construct (green trust), and empirically evaluated all fundamental VBN components with their chained relationships among constructs. This cross-sectional study collected quantitative data from 349 farmers using structured interviews. The partial least squares structural equation modeling (PLS-SEM) method was used to statistically evaluate the relationship between the constructs. The analysis demonstrates that both biospheric and altruistic values have a positive impact on the new environmental paradigm, which, in turn, has a significant impact on people’s awareness of consequences and personal norms. Although awareness of consequences had a substantial positive influence on the ascription of responsibilities, it was demonstrated to have a statistically insignificant impact on personal norms. In parallel, the ascription of responsibility had a strong impact on personal norms, which, in turn, positively influenced the intention towards conservative agricultural practices. Remarkably, green trust was found to have the greatest effect on farmers’ intentions. Finally, farmers’ actual adoption was significantly influenced by their intention. The findings of this study will contribute to the strengthening of relevant factors among farmers that may enhance eco-friendly farming practices, develop solutions for regulating the protected utilization of natural resources, and effectively prevent environmental deterioration caused by hazardous agrochemicals. The study will also provide guidance to government regulators and other social organizations in the formulation of effective laws, policies, and strategies for the mass adoption of conservation practices and restoration of agricultural ecosystem balance.

Influences of Social-Psychological Constructs in Predicting Taiwanese Pro-Environmental Behaviors.

A value-belief-norm (VBN) model for understanding the pro-environmental behaviors (PEB) of Taiwanese was developed. This formulated VBN model included personal values, openness to change, awareness of consequences, personal norms, social norms, and PEB. Ecological world view and ascription of responsibility were excluded to develop a tighter model. A total of 1079 completed questionnaires were collected and structural equation modelling was utilized, where standard estimates and coefficients of determination validated the formulated VBN model's effectiveness. Each construct served its role as the mediator between its distal variable and outcome variable, with a substantial level of predictive accuracy, and 74.3% of the variance in PEB was accounted for. Further findings found that mature individuals had a stronger tendency towards awareness of consequences due to personal values; the young had a stronger tendency towards personal norms due to awareness of consequences; men had a stronger tendency towards personal norms due to awareness of consequences; and women had a weaker tendency due to a greater emphasis on altruism. Future interventions, such as sharing of personal pro-environmental lifestyles verbally or through social media, periodically decluttering personal items and maintaining a minimalist lifestyle, where these personal norms are in line with collective social norms, could help to strengthen PEB.

A meta-analytic integration of the theory of planned behavior and the value-belief-norm model to predict green consumption

Purpose This study aims to integrate the theory of planned behavior (TPB) and the value-belief-norm (VBN) theory into a meta-analytic framework to synthesize green consumption literature. Design/methodology/approach By integrating the findings from 173 studies, a meta-analysis was performed adopting several analytical methods: bivariate analysis, moderation analysis and path analysis. Findings VBN- and TPB-based psychological factors (adverse consequences, ascribed responsibility, personal norms, subjective norms, attitude and perceived behavioral control) mediate the effects of altruistic, biospheric and egoistic values on green purchase intention. Further, inconsistencies in the proposed relationships are due to cultural factors (i.e. individualism-collectivism, power distance, uncertainty avoidance, masculinity–femininity, short- vs long-term orientation and indulgence-restraint) and countries’ human development status. Research limitations/implications The authors selected papers published in English; hence, other relevant papers in this domain published in other languages might have been missed. Practical implications The findings are useful to marketers of green offerings in designing strategies, i.e. specific messages, targeting different customers based on countries’ cultural score and human development index, to harvest positive customer responses. Originality/value This study is the pioneering attempt to synthesize the TPB- and VBN-based quantitative literature on green consumer behavior to resolve the reported inconsistent findings.

Adapting Theories of Pro-environmental Behaviours to Environmental Activism: A Review of Relevant Theoretical Frameworks

The aim of this paper is to review relevant environmental and behavioural theories relating to pro-environmental behaviours and to particularly propose their adaptation to environmental activism. Environmental activism, which refers to advocating and participating in environmental actions and behaviours to foster a sustainable environment, is largely understudied in Africa. By reviewing theories that can potentially explain why individuals may engage in or advocate for environmental actions, this study seeks to revive the interest of African researchers in issues relating to pro-environmental behaviours and, in particular, environmental activism. Theories help to expand understanding of any given phenomena. They can safely be referred to as the social scientist’s guide to social investigations as they greatly help in pioneering, predicting, expanding, and critiquing knowledge. The theories reviewed in this study include the Value Belief Norm Theory, Protection Motivation Theory, Health Belief Model, Theory of Planned Behaviour, and the Direct and Buffering Hypothesis of Social Support. This review paper concludes that for a more nuanced understanding of environmental activism and pro-environmental behaviours at large, integration and adaptation of several theories are necessary as they will collectively provide detailed insights into possible remedies for the human and technology-induced environmental issues that plague the world, especially Africa as a continent.

Modeling the intention and usage of organic pesticide control using value-belief-norm model

The degradation of farming lands caused by excessive pesticide usage is a growing concern. One of the most effective strategies for preventing this disaster from worsening is to commence organic pesticide management at a mass level. Although farmers depend highly on synthetic pesticides and fertilizers to obtain higher yields and profitable returns, the adoption of these synthetic inputs have remained surprisingly low in many agricultural contexts, spanning both developing and developed countries. The goal of this study is to utilize the Value-Belief-Norm (VBN) theory as a framework for understanding the critical sociopsychological factors influencing farmers’ decision to use organic pesticides. Specifically, this study aims to introduce and assess the impact of a new construct, i.e., the social norm withing the VBN framework. Additionally, this study empirically evaluates the core components of VBN theory and their causal relationship. The data was collected from 322 farmers from Zhoukou, Henan province, China using a survey questionnaire. The findings show that farmers’ egoistic values significantly impact the ecological worldview, despite the fact that biospheric values had no discernible effect. The ecological worldview also profoundly influences the farmers’ awareness of consequences and their personal norms. Although the study finds awareness of consequences to have no significant effect on personal norms, it has a substantial positive impact on ascription of responsibility. In addition, ascription of responsibility significantly influences farmers’ personal norms, which substantially impacts the intention to use organic pesticides. The results also reveal that farmers’ intentions significantly impact the usage of organic pesticides. The study’s findings can help strengthen essential factors among farmers that can improve their perception of organic agricultural methods, create strategies for managing controlled agrochemicals, and successfully stop environmental degradation by toxic inputs.

Pro-environmental behavior regarding single-use plastics reduction in urban-rural communities of Thailand: Implication for public policy.

The study investigates residents' behavior towards reducing the use of single-use plastic (SUP), specifically in the context of food packaging. The widespread view holds that pro-environmental behavior (PB) results from a person's moral and rational deliberations. In reducing single-use plastic (SUP) consumption and waste, the relative roles of rationality and morality models in validating PB among rural and urban residents are not yet clear. In this empirical study, we compared the relative efficacy of two models for explaining people's SUP reduction behavior: the theory of planned behavior (TPB; rationality) and the value belief norm (VBN; morality). We investigated Thailand's rural (Sichang Island) and metropolitan (Nonthaburi city) areas. As a result, we surveyed people living on Sichang Island (n = 255) and in Nonthaburi city (n = 310). We employed structural equation modeling (SEM) for data analysis in this study. Findings showed that while morality better justified all the study participants' SUP reduction behavior, rationality underpinned behaviors of rural residents, while morality better explained the actions of city residents. We discussed future theoretical development and a policy roadmap based on these findings.

Drivers of Pro-Ecological Behaviour Norms among Environmentalists, Hunters and the General Public

The processes of industrialisation and urbanisation have substantially severed our connection with nature, causing detrimental effects on our ecosystems that underline the urgent necessity for sustainability-driven transformations. However, the dedication to sustainable practices depends on various factors and differs among different groups. This study employs the Value–Belief–Norm Theory of Environmentalism to investigate the impact of the New Ecological Paradigm (NEP), Connectedness to Nature (CNS), agricultural land stewardship, age and gender identity on pro-ecological personal norms. Data collection took place in Malta, an island state characterised by competing pressures over its land use. To encompass diverse group viewpoints, purposive sampling techniques were utilised, engaging environmentalists, hunters, and representatives from the general public. The findings obtained from hierarchical multiple regression analysis highlight a noteworthy positive impact of NEP, CNS, agricultural land stewardship, and age, which collectively explain 40% of the variance in pro-ecological personal norms. The identification of these drivers can provide directions for facilitating the implementation of educational, environmental and legislative policies that can help nurture and foster a sustainable relationship between humans and nature.

Measurement of public acceptance of TDM policies using combination of public policy acceptance (PPA) and value belief norm (VBN) approach

One strategy to overcome the problem of imbalance between the demand and supply of road transportation that causes congestion is to apply transport demand management (TDM). TDM is a series of transportation policies aimed at achieving sustainable transportation by reducing the use of private vehicles and prioritizing public transport and/or non-motorized vehicles. The level of public acceptance of TDM largely determines the success of TDM implementation. Through the Value Belief Norm Theory approach, it can be seen that public acceptance of TDM policies will be influenced by how high the norm of community partiality towards the environment. The level of public acceptance of a TDM regulation can also be measured by the Public Policy Acceptance (PPA) Model. The results of the study proved that acceptance of TDM strategy implementation was quite significantly influenced by the pro-environment attitude of the community. The PPA model result showed that people tend to be skeptical of the implementation of TDM policies.

Environmental and health values, beliefs, norms and compatibility on intention to adopt hydroponic farming among unemployed youth

The objective of this study was to examine the relationships among environmental and health values, ecological worldview, perception of consequences, the ascription of responsibility, and personal norms in the context of the value-belief-norm (VBN) model and how compatibility influences the intentions and behaviors of Chinese youth regarding the use of hydroponic farming technology. The study employed a survey questionnaire to collect data from the target population. The sample size was determined through a power analysis to ensure sufficient statistical power for the analysis. A total of 727 potential respondents' responses were analyzed using SmartPLS (4.0) to perform structural equation modeling. The results confirmed that environmental, emotional, and health values significantly associated with individuals' ecological worldviews. There was an interconnection between ecological worldview, awareness of consequences, and ascription of responsibility, and all three significantly influenced personal norms. The key determinants of the intentions and behaviors to adopt hydroponic farming technology are personal norms and technology compatibility. Therefore, to promote and motivate the interest and intention to use hydroponics among unemployed youth, government agencies, and related companies should focus on providing technology-related and pro-environmental information and training. This is expected to increase the acceptance and awareness of hydroponics among this group, thus increasing the adoption rate of hydroponics.

Waste management behaviour in the most populated capital city of the world

PurposeA prime objective of the Swachh Bharat Abhiyan (SBA; Clean India Mission) is to motivate people to segregate their household waste. The purpose of this study is to assess the ground reality of waste management behaviour of Delhi residents with the help of a modified Value–Belief–Norm (VBN) model. Past researches point the need to include cost as a variable in the VBN model. This study fulfils this need and tests cost as one of the variables on the gathered data.Design/methodology/approachThe research data were gathered by interacting with the people and the civic staff in the jurisdiction of the three Delhi municipalities through a stratified sampling technique (N = 250). The structural equation modelling was used to analyse the collected data.FindingsThe modified VBN model explains the waste management behaviour, but the variables do not follow the exact causal chain. Values, awareness of consequences, ascription of responsibility and personal norms all explain the resident's waste management behaviour. However, cost limits the resident's waste management behaviour.Research limitations/implicationsThe study could only achieve a moderate model fit; its sample size was small; and data were collected through self-reported questionnaire.Practical implicationsThree main practical implications of the study are: (1) While designing waste management solutions, due importance must be given to the cost to be borne by people for adopting these solutions. (2) Design such interventions that target residents' values to convince them to make the desired behavioural change. (3) People need be educated about the ways to sort waste and made aware of the importance of waste segregation in eradicating the urban waste mess.Originality/valueThe paper is an original contribution to testing a modified VBN model in predicting waste management behaviour. The modified model includes cost as a variable missing in the previous research. This research is useful in the backdrop of the SBA and provides suggestions for policymakers and pro-environment researchers.

The Impact of Different Value Types on Environmentally Responsible Behavior: An Empirical Study from Residents of National Park Communities in China

The construction of China’s national park system is an important part of the ecological civilization development strategy, and the behavior of the subjects in the national park has a great impact on its sustainable development. Environmentally responsible behavior (ERB) is considered an important aspect of national park management, and the impact of an individual’s held value on environmental behavior has received much attention. However, the assigned value (AV) of community residents in national park-specific situations has not been concerned, which is often closely related to resident behavior within national park. Therefore, we took the residents of four gateway communities (Qixi town, Hetian town, Changhong town, and Suzhuang town) in Qianjiangyuan national park (QNP), Zhejiang province as research subjects. Based on the value-belief-norm (VBN) model representing individual values, this study integrates the perceived social value of ecosystem services in the national park among community residents and analyzes their impact on ERB. The collected data were statistically analyzed using SPSS 23.0, and the structural model was validated using SmartPLS based on Partial Least Squares Regression. The research findings revealed that (1) the assigned value has a significant positive influence on the environmentally responsible behavior of community residents; (2) pro-environment personal norms are the strongest predictive variable of environmentally responsible behavior; and (3) biosphere value, altruistic value and personal norms have significant positive influence on the formation of the assigned value of community residents.

Strengthening health monitoring: Intention and adoption of Internet of Things-enabled wearable healthcare devices.

Health self-monitoring technologies are gaining popularity worldwide, but they face low adoption rates in emerging countries. There is a deficiency in studies that have applied the value-belief-norm (VBN) model to understand the adoption of IoT-enabled wearable healthcare devices (WHDs). This study investigates the adoption of IoT-enabled WHDs among older adults in China, using the VBN model as a theoretical framework. Using a convenience sampling method and a web-based cross-sectional survey method, we collected data from 476 respondents, which we analyzed using partial least squares structural equation modeling using Smart PLS version 3.3.5. The findings highlight the significance of health values and motivation in shaping personal health beliefs, which, in turn, influence personal norms and awareness of consequences. Particularly, awareness of consequences and attributions of responsibility significantly impact personal norms. Personal and social norms, in turn, strongly affect the intention to adopt IoT-enabled WHDs, ultimately driving their actual adoption. This research contributes novel insights into the behavioral dynamics surrounding the adoption of IoT-enabled WHDs, providing valuable guidance for marketers and policymakers. Marketers can leverage these insights to develop tailored marketing strategies within the IoT-enabled WHD industry. Additionally, policymakers are urged to prioritize campaigns aimed at enhancing awareness and understanding of self-healthcare monitoring, with a focus on promoting the unique health benefits of IoT-enabled WHDs.

Integrating Theory of Planned Behavior and Value-Belief-Norm Theory to Explain Residents’ Intention on Garbage Classification

Guiding residents’ garbage classification behavior is one of the important ways to alleviate urban environmental pollution. Based on the theory of planned behavior (TPB) and the theory of value-belief-norm (VBN), 440 questionnaires were analyzed by using partial least squares structural equation modeling (PLS-SEM) to study the factors affecting residents’ intention (I) of garbage classification. The results show that the integrated TPB and VBN model developed in this study has a stronger ability to predict and explain the Intention (I) of residents’ garbage classification. The residents’ Perceived Behavioral Norms (PBN), Subjective Norms (SN), and Personal Norms (PN) directly affect the behavioral intention (I) of residents’ garbage classification, and Perceived Behavioral Control (PBC) is the biggest factor affecting the Intention (I) of residents’ garbage classification. Besides, Residents’ Subjective Norm (SN), Awareness of Consequences (AC), and Ascribed Responsibility (AR) explain residents’ Personal Norms (PN), among which Subjective Norm (SN) have the most significant impact on Personal Norms (PN). Personal norm is a mediator between social norms and Intention (I) on garbage classification. The study further enriches the research on residents’ garbage classification intention (I) and inspires for enhancing residents’ garbage classification intention (I).