You must separate: How perceived importance and language intensity promote waste separation

Waste threatens human health and the environment. How can we persuade people to participate in waste separation? In order to address this challenge, the present experimental study (N = 280) investigated the effects of perceived importance (high, medium, low) and language intensity (assertive, non-assertive) on people's intention to separate waste based on the social influence theory and the value-identity-personal norm model. The results showed that high perceived importance and assertive language were positively and significantly associated with waste separation intention. Furthermore, the mediating analysis revealed that environmental self-identity and personal norm were serial mediators in the relationship between perceived importance and waste separation intention. Therefore, strengthening perceived importance and enhancing internalization processes (environmental self-identity and personal norm) contribute to promoting waste separation intention. The findings of this study provide both theoretical and practical contributions to promote waste separation.

Information publicity and resident's waste separation behavior: An empirical study based on the norm activation model

Waste separation is beneficial to minimize the negative environmental effects of waste and to promote the recycling use of waste. Based on the norm activation model framework, this study mainly focused on examining how information publicity about waste separation affects resident's waste separation intention. A questionnaire survey was conducted in China to collect the research data, and the data were analyzed by using the structural equation modeling technique. The results indicated that resident's awareness of consequences of not separating waste is positively and significantly associated with ascription of responsibility, and both of them are positively and significantly related to personal norm. Personal norm is positively associated with resident's waste separation intention. Furthermore, information publicity has a direct and positive effect on resident's waste separation intention. However, the effect is relatively small. Meanwhile, it is worth noting that the effect of information publicity on waste separation intention depends on information quality. Information quality positively moderates the effect of information publicity on waste separation intention. The current study enriched the research on resident's waste separation behavior and highlighted the role of information publicity. Based on the results, policy implications about how to motivate residents to separate waste were discussed and the research limitations were pointed out.