The Role of Two Social Marketing Strategies and Communication Design in Chinese Households’ Waste-Sorting Intentions and Behavior: A Theory of Planned Behavior Approach
Abstract
:1. Introduction
1.1. Basic Version of the TPB
1.2. Extended Version of the TPB: Antecedent Variables
1.2.1. Social Marketing Strategies: Benefits/Ways of Waste Sorting and Consequences of Noncompliance
1.2.2. Communication Design
1.3. The Addition of Hope
2. Method
2.1. Procedure and Sample
2.2. Questionnaire
3. Results
3.1. Main Analysis
3.2. Additional Analysis of Waste-Sorting Behavior
4. Discussion
4.1. Theoretical Discussion
4.2. Practical Implications
4.3. Limitations
5. Conclusions
- Communicating benefits and ways of waste sorting and consequences of noncompliance can be positively associated with residents’ waste-sorting intentions and behaviors.
- Better and more professionally designed promotional materials can facilitate residents’ waste-sorting intentions and behaviors.
Supplementary Materials
Author Contributions
Funding
Institutional Review Board Statement
Informed Consent Statement
Data Availability Statement
Conflicts of Interest
References
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Variable | Statistic |
---|---|
Average age (SD) | 31.7 (8.3) |
Average annual income (SD) | RMB100,070 (RMB65,110) |
Average year of formal education (SD) | 13.8 (4.5) |
Gender | |
Female | 55.3% |
Male | 44.7% |
Ethnicities (%) | |
Han | 98.0% |
Other ethnicities | 2.0% |
Employment status or occupation | |
Students | 10.9% |
Management personnel | 15.7% |
Administrative/support personnel | 10.5% |
Research & development | 14.6% |
Sales | 10.5% |
Accounting or finance | 6.3% |
Other | 4.6% |
Not employed | 1.1% |
Attitudes toward Waste Sorting | Norms | Self-Efficacy | Hope | Intention | |||||||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Predictor | B | SE | β | B | SE | β | B | SE | β | B | SE | β | B | SE | β |
Control variable | |||||||||||||||
Sex (1 = male, 2 = female) | 0.02 | 0.06 | 0.01 | 0.01 | 0.08 | 0.01 | −0.01 | 0.08 | −0.01 | 0.06 | 0.06 | 0.04 | 0.10 | 0.05 | 0.06 * |
Age | 0.00 | 0.00 | −0.04 | 0.00 | 0.01 | 0.00 | 0.00 | 0.00 | 0.01 | 0.00 | 0.00 | −0.05 | 0.00 | 0.00 | 0.00 |
Income (1 = RMB10,000) | 0.00 | 0.00 | −0.01 | 0.02 | 0.01 | 0.12 ** | 0.02 | 0.01 | 0.13 ** | 0.01 | 0.00 | 0.08 * | 0.00 | 0.00 | 0.04 |
Education (year) | 0.00 | 0.01 | 0.02 | 0.00 | 0.01 | 0.01 | 0.00 | 0.01 | 0.01 | 0.00 | 0.01 | 0.03 | 0.00 | 0.01 | 0.02 |
Personal philosophy (1 = conservative, 7 = liberal) | 0.04 | 0.03 | 0.05 | 0.04 | 0.04 | 0.04 | 0.09 | 0.04 | 0.10 * | 0.02 | 0.03 | 0.04 | 0.01 | 0.02 | 0.01 |
Antecedent | |||||||||||||||
Consequences of non-compliance | 0.03 | 0.02 | 0.06 | 0.16 | 0.03 | 0.21 *** | 0.07 | 0.03 | 0.10 * | 0.01 | 0.02 | 0.01 | −0.01 | 0.02 | −0.02 |
Benefits and ways of waste sorting | 0.19 | 0.03 | 0.26 *** | 0.18 | 0.05 | 0.17 *** | 0.15 | 0.05 | 0.16 *** | 0.20 | 0.03 | 0.30 *** | 0.05 | 0.03 | 0.06 + |
Communication design | 0.28 | 0.04 | 0.35 *** | 0.37 | 0.05 | 0.32 *** | 0.34 | 0.05 | 0.32 *** | 0.23 | 0.04 | 0.30 *** | 0.00 | 0.03 | 0.00 |
Mediator | |||||||||||||||
Attitudes toward waste sorting | 0.31 | 0.05 | 0.27 *** | ||||||||||||
Perceived norms | 0.28 | 0.03 | 0.35 *** | ||||||||||||
Self-efficacy | 0.18 | 0.04 | 0.20 *** | ||||||||||||
Hope | 0.14 | 0.05 | 0.11 ** |
Indirect Relationship via | Total Relationship | ||||||||||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Attitudes | Norms | Self-Efficacy | Hope | Intention | |||||||||||
Predictor | B | SE | β | B | SE | β | B | SE | β | B | SE | β | B | SE | β |
Consequences of non-compliance | 0.01 | 0.01 | 0.02 | 0.05 | 0.01 | 0.07 *** | 0.01 | 0.01 | 0.02 | 0.00 | 0.00 | 0.00 | 0.06 | 0.03 | 0.09 * |
Benefits and ways of waste sorting | 0.06 | 0.02 | 0.07 ** | 0.05 | 0.02 | 0.06 * | 0.03 | 0.01 | 0.03 ** | 0.03 | 0.01 | 0.03 ** | 0.22 | 0.04 | 0.26 *** |
Communication design | 0.09 | 0.03 | 0.09 ** | 0.10 | 0.02 | 0.11 *** | 0.06 | 0.02 | 0.06 ** | 0.03 | 0.02 | 0.03 | 0.28 | 0.05 | 0.30 *** |
Percentage of Waste Sorting | ||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Direct Relationship | Total Relationship | |||||
B | SE | β | B | SE | β | |
Control variable | ||||||
Gender (1 = male, 2 = female) | 0.00 | 0.02 | 0.00 | 0.00 | 0.03 | −0.01 |
Age | 0.00 | 0.00 | 0.05 | 0.00 | 0.00 | 0.05 |
Annual income (1 = RMB10K) | 0.01 | 0.00 | 0.11 ** | 0.01 | 0.00 | 0.19 *** |
Year of education | 0.00 | 0.00 | 0.03 | 0.00 | 0.00 | 0.04 |
Personal Philosophy | −0.01 | 0.01 | −0.03 | 0.00 | 0.01 | 0.01 |
City (1 = pilot city, 0 = others) | −0.02 | 0.02 | −0.04 | −0.03 | 0.03 | −0.06 |
Number of times corrected by trash monitors | −0.02 | 0.01 | −0.08 | −0.01 | 0.01 | −0.04 |
Antecedent | ||||||
Consequences of noncompliance | 0.01 | 0.01 | 0.03 | 0.03 | 0.01 | 0.13 * |
Benefits and ways of waste sorting | 0.01 | 0.01 | 0.03 | 0.03 | 0.02 | 0.12 * |
Communication design | −0.01 | 0.02 | −0.04 | 0.04 | 0.02 | 0.14 * |
Mediator | ||||||
Attitudes | 0.00 | 0.02 | 0.01 | |||
Norms | 0.11 | 0.02 | 0.40 *** | |||
Self-efficacy | 0.08 | 0.02 | 0.28 *** | |||
Hope | −0.05 | 0.02 | −0.11 * |
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Wang, X.; Lin, L. The Role of Two Social Marketing Strategies and Communication Design in Chinese Households’ Waste-Sorting Intentions and Behavior: A Theory of Planned Behavior Approach. Sustainability 2023, 15, 5176. https://doi.org/10.3390/su15065176
Wang X, Lin L. The Role of Two Social Marketing Strategies and Communication Design in Chinese Households’ Waste-Sorting Intentions and Behavior: A Theory of Planned Behavior Approach. Sustainability. 2023; 15(6):5176. https://doi.org/10.3390/su15065176
Chicago/Turabian StyleWang, Xiao, and Lin Lin. 2023. "The Role of Two Social Marketing Strategies and Communication Design in Chinese Households’ Waste-Sorting Intentions and Behavior: A Theory of Planned Behavior Approach" Sustainability 15, no. 6: 5176. https://doi.org/10.3390/su15065176