IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/gam/jsusta/v9y2017i2p204-d89253.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Understanding the Mechanisms behind Changing People’s Recycling Behavior at Work by Applying a Comprehensive Action Determination Model

Author

Listed:
  • Sunita Prugsamatz Ofstad

    (Department of Psychology, NTNU—Norwegian University of Science and Technology, 7491 Trondheim, Norway)

  • Monika Tobolova

    (Department of Psychology, NTNU—Norwegian University of Science and Technology, 7491 Trondheim, Norway)

  • Alim Nayum

    (Department of Psychology, NTNU—Norwegian University of Science and Technology, 7491 Trondheim, Norway)

  • Christian A. Klöckner

    (Department of Psychology, NTNU—Norwegian University of Science and Technology, 7491 Trondheim, Norway)

Abstract

This study moves toward a better understanding of the mechanisms behind changing people’s recycling behavior at work by mapping out which pathways and variables change in recycling behavior as triggered by interventions. A questionnaire was designed based on the theory of planned behaviour, the norm-activation model, habits, and a comprehensive action determination model (CADM). The data was collected in two rounds: before the intervention and after a three-month pilot period with implemented interventions using a sample of n = 1269 students and employees. The CADM model appears to be a good fit with the data. The results from the structural equation modelling indicate the pathways to influencing behavioural change. The most important psychological variables accounting for waste separation behaviour are intentions, perceived behavioural control, personal norms, social norms and habits. No difference in waste separation behaviour was observed in the control building. Interventions targeting the increase in waste separation raised participants’ intentions to engage in such behaviour. Results indicate that waste separation at work must go beyond technical aspects to include various key elements of sustainability to ensure success. Furthermore, understanding human behavior is key in determining the performance and success of an integrated and effective recycling intervention strategy.

Suggested Citation

  • Sunita Prugsamatz Ofstad & Monika Tobolova & Alim Nayum & Christian A. Klöckner, 2017. "Understanding the Mechanisms behind Changing People’s Recycling Behavior at Work by Applying a Comprehensive Action Determination Model," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 9(2), pages 1-17, February.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:9:y:2017:i:2:p:204-:d:89253
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/9/2/204/pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/9/2/204/
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. McCarty, John A. & Shrum, L. J., 1994. "The recycling of solid wastes: Personal values, value orientations, and attitudes about recycling as antecedents of recycling behavior," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 30(1), pages 53-62, May.
    2. Ajzen, Icek, 1991. "The theory of planned behavior," Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes, Elsevier, vol. 50(2), pages 179-211, December.
    3. Adekunle Oke, 2015. "Workplace Waste Recycling Behaviour: A Meta-Analytical Review," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 7(6), pages 1-20, June.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Lea Marie Heidbreder & Josephine Tröger & Manfred Schmitt, 2023. "Exploring the psychological antecedents of private and public sphere behaviours to reduce household plastic consumption," Environment, Development and Sustainability: A Multidisciplinary Approach to the Theory and Practice of Sustainable Development, Springer, vol. 25(4), pages 3405-3428, April.
    2. Mykolas Simas Poškus & Audra Balundė & Lina Jovarauskaitė & Goda Kaniušonytė & Rita Žukauskienė, 2021. "The Effect of Potentially Groundwater-Contaminating Ecological Disaster on Adolescents’ Bottled Water Consumption and Perceived Risk to Use Tap Water," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(11), pages 1-17, May.
    3. Saman Attiq & Amanda M. Y. Chu & Rauf I. Azam & Wing-Keung Wong & Sumia Mumtaz, 2021. "Antecedents of Consumer Food Waste Reduction Behavior: Psychological and Financial Concerns through the Lens of the Theory of Interpersonal Behavior," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 18(23), pages 1-18, November.
    4. Serena L. Colombo & Salvatore G. Chiarella & Camille Lefrançois & Jacques Fradin & Antonino Raffone & Luca Simione, 2023. "Why Knowing about Climate Change Is Not Enough to Change: A Perspective Paper on the Factors Explaining the Environmental Knowledge-Action Gap," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(20), pages 1-17, October.
    5. Wei-Ta Fang & Mei-Hsuan Huang & Bai-You Cheng & Rong-Jeo Chiu & Yi-Te Chiang & Chun-Wei Hsu & Eric Ng, 2021. "Applying a Comprehensive Action Determination Model to Examine the Recycling Behavior of Taipei City Residents," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(2), pages 1-18, January.
    6. Urša Golob & Klement Podnar & Mateja Kos Koklič & Vesna Zabkar, 2019. "The importance of corporate social responsibility for responsible consumption: Exploring moral motivations of consumers," Corporate Social Responsibility and Environmental Management, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 26(2), pages 416-423, March.
    7. Olawole Fawehinmi & Mohd Yusoff Yusliza & Samuel Ogbeibu & M. Imran Tanveer & Charbel Jose Chiappetta Jabbour, 2022. "Academic employees' green behaviour as praxis for bolstering environmental sustainable development: A linear moderated mediation evaluation," Business Strategy and the Environment, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 31(7), pages 3470-3490, November.
    8. Elena C. Prenovitz & Peter K. Hazlett & Chandler S. Reilly, 2023. "Can Markets Improve Recycling Performance? A Cross-Country Regression Analysis and Case Studies," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(6), pages 1-18, March.
    9. Wenyao Zhang & Ruzhi Xu & Yuan Jiang & Wei Zhang, 2021. "How Environmental Knowledge Management Promotes Employee Green Behavior: An Empirical Study," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 18(9), pages 1-15, April.
    10. Sumia Mumtaz & Amanda M. Y. Chu & Saman Attiq & Hassan Jalil Shah & Wing-Keung Wong, 2022. "Habit—Does It Matter? Bringing Habit and Emotion into the Development of Consumer’s Food Waste Reduction Behavior with the Lens of the Theory of Interpersonal Behavior," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 19(10), pages 1-24, May.
    11. Louise R. Manfredi & Meriel Stokoe & Rebecca Kelly & Seyeon Lee, 2021. "Teaching Sustainable Responsibility through Informal Undergraduate Design Education," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(15), pages 1-13, July.
    12. Lina JovarauskaitÄ— & Audra BalundÄ— & Inga TruskauskaitÄ—-KuneviÄ ienÄ— & Goda KaniuÅ¡onytÄ— & Rita ŽukauskienÄ— & Mykolas Simas PoÅ¡kus, 2020. "Toward Reducing Adolescents’ Bottled Water Purchasing: From Policy Awareness to Policy-Congruent Behavior," SAGE Open, , vol. 10(4), pages 21582440209, December.
    13. Mykolas Simas Poškus, 2020. "What Works for Whom? Investigating Adolescents’ Pro-Environmental Behaviors," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(18), pages 1-21, September.
    14. Yan Wah Leung & Sonny Rosenthal, 2019. "Explicating Perceived Sustainability-Related Climate: A Situational Motivator of Pro-Environmental Behavior," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 11(1), pages 1-17, January.
    15. Xueping Wu & Liping Zhang & Jianhua Huang & Wei Li & Yanhua Chen & Wenhai Qiu, 2021. "Evolutionary Game Analysis on Behavioral Strategies of Government and Residents in Municipal Household Waste Separation," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(20), pages 1-19, October.
    16. Van Asselt, Joanna & Nian, Yefan & Soh, Moonwon & Gao, Zhifeng & Morgan, Stephen N, 2020. "Do Plastic Warning Labels Reduce Consumers’ Willingness to Pay for Plastic Packaging?," 2020 Annual Meeting, July 26-28, Kansas City, Missouri 304503, Agricultural and Applied Economics Association.
    17. Van Asselt, Joanna & Nian, Yefan & Soh, Moonwon & Morgan, Stephen & Gao, Zhifeng, 2022. "Do plastic warning labels reduce consumers' willingness to pay for plastic egg packaging? – Evidence from a choice experiment," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 198(C).
    18. Qiao Liu & Qianhui Xu & Xin Shen & Bowei Chen & Sonia Sadeghian Esfahani, 2022. "The Mechanism of Household Waste Sorting Behaviour—A Study of Jiaxing, China," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 19(4), pages 1-12, February.
    19. van den Broek, Karlijn L. & Walker, Ian & Klöckner, Christian A., 2019. "Drivers of energy saving behaviour: The relative influence of intentional, normative, situational and habitual processes," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 132(C), pages 811-819.
    20. Gangga Muniandy & Marhana Mohamed Anuar & Bob Foster & Jumadil Saputra & Muhamad Deni Johansyah & Tran Tien Khoa & Zafar U. Ahmed, 2021. "Determinants of Sustainable Waste Management Behavior of Malaysian Academics," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(8), pages 1-14, April.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Andreas Falke & Nadine Schröder & Claudia Hofmann, 2022. "The influence of values in sustainable consumption among millennials," Journal of Business Economics, Springer, vol. 92(6), pages 899-928, August.
    2. Nguyen, The Ninh & Lobo, Antonio & Greenland, Steven, 2016. "Pro-environmental purchase behaviour: The role of consumers' biospheric values," Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services, Elsevier, vol. 33(C), pages 98-108.
    3. Adekunle Oke, 2015. "Workplace Waste Recycling Behaviour: A Meta-Analytical Review," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 7(6), pages 1-20, June.
    4. Pagnarith Srun & Kiyo Kurisu, 2019. "Internal and External Influential Factors on Waste Disposal Behavior in Public Open Spaces in Phnom Penh, Cambodia," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 11(6), pages 1-14, March.
    5. Catarina Roseira & Sandrina Teixeira & Belem Barbosa & Rita Macedo, 2022. "How Collectivism Affects Organic Food Purchase Intention and Behavior: A Study with Norwegian and Portuguese Young Consumers," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(12), pages 1-19, June.
    6. Ang, James B. & Fredriksson, Per G. & Sharma, Swati, 2020. "Individualism and the adoption of clean energy technology," Resource and Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 61(C).
    7. Richard Osbaldiston, 2013. "Synthesizing the Experiments and Theories of Conservation Psychology," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 5(6), pages 1-26, June.
    8. Sreen, Naman & Purbey, Shankar & Sadarangani, Pradip, 2018. "Impact of culture, behavior and gender on green purchase intention," Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services, Elsevier, vol. 41(C), pages 177-189.
    9. Yueling Xu & Wenyu Zhang & Haijun Bao & Shuai Zhang & Ying Xiang, 2019. "A SEM–Neural Network Approach to Predict Customers’ Intention to Purchase Battery Electric Vehicles in China’s Zhejiang Province," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 11(11), pages 1-19, June.
    10. Gege Zhang & Xiaoyuan Chen & Rob Law & Mu Zhang, 2020. "Sustainability of Heritage Tourism: A Structural Perspective from Cultural Identity and Consumption Intention," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(21), pages 1-17, November.
    11. Prestin, Abby & Pearce, Katy E., 2010. "We care a lot: Formative research for a social marketing campaign to promote school-based recycling," Resources, Conservation & Recycling, Elsevier, vol. 54(11), pages 1017-1026.
    12. Seong-Gak Lee & Hyeon-Jin Jo & Dong-Woo Koo & Sae-Mi Lee, 2022. "Conceptual Similarities and Empirical Differences in Theoretical Approaches to Personal Values and Cultural Values Predicting Pro-Environmental Behavior in Hospitality and Tourism," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(23), pages 1-19, November.
    13. Deidre Bauer & Julia Arnold & Kerstin Kremer, 2018. "Consumption-Intention Formation in Education for Sustainable Development: An Adapted Model Based on the Theory of Planned Behavior," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 10(10), pages 1-13, September.
    14. Yan Wah Leung & Sonny Rosenthal, 2019. "Explicating Perceived Sustainability-Related Climate: A Situational Motivator of Pro-Environmental Behavior," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 11(1), pages 1-17, January.
    15. Ruben van der Sluijs & Gilbert Silvius, 2023. "Exploring the Values of a Sustainable Project Manager," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(10), pages 1-22, May.
    16. Thogersen, John & Olander, Folke, 2002. "Human values and the emergence of a sustainable consumption pattern: A panel study," Journal of Economic Psychology, Elsevier, vol. 23(5), pages 605-630, October.
    17. Inga-Lill Söderberg & Misse Wester & Agnieszka Zalejska Jonsson, 2022. "Exploring Factors Promoting Recycling Behavior in Student Housing," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(7), pages 1-16, April.
    18. Birau, Mia M. & Faure, Corinne, 2018. "It is easy to do the right thing: Avoiding the backfiring effects of advertisements that blame consumers for waste," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 87(C), pages 102-117.
    19. Saphores, Jean-Daniel M. & Ogunseitan, Oladele A. & Shapiro, Andrew A., 2012. "Willingness to engage in a pro-environmental behavior: An analysis of e-waste recycling based on a national survey of U.S. households," Resources, Conservation & Recycling, Elsevier, vol. 60(C), pages 49-63.
    20. Kumar, Bipul, 2012. "Theory of Planned Behaviour Approach to Understand the Purchasing Behaviour for Environmentally Sustainable Products," IIMA Working Papers WP2012-12-08, Indian Institute of Management Ahmedabad, Research and Publication Department.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:9:y:2017:i:2:p:204-:d:89253. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: MDPI Indexing Manager (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.mdpi.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.