Modeling the Young Adults E Waste Recycling Intentions an Extended Theory of Planned Behavior

Abstract

Every year Pakistan generates around 390 thousand metric tonnes of e-waste. This e-waste growth is estimated to increase by 5 percent yearly. A huge challenge is to manage the e-waste in a sustainable and environment friendly way. In this context, e-waste recycling is considered as a win-win strategy for environment protection in developing countries. In order to promote and facilitate recycling, it is very essential to understand the socio-psychological factors affecting consumers’ intention towards e-waste recycling. For this purpose, extended Theory of Planned Behavior (TPB) framework used to analyze socio-physiological factors impact on the young adult’s intentions on adopting e-waste recycling. The cross-sectional data collected from 407 young adults from Faisalabad and employed a structural equation modeling to explore study objectives. The study findings show that subjective norms, perceived behavioral control, sense of duty, awareness of consequence, recycling habits positively influenced the young consumers' e-waste recycling behavior. Moreover, structural model results revealed that subjective norms had highest impact on the young consumers' e-waste recycling intentions. Therefore, these findings can be used by policy makers to devise some incentive policies and programs to motivate young adults to participate in e-waste recycling. Effective approaches should be developed to foster young adults’ positive recycling habits, environmental benefits awareness and social norms realization, in order to increase their enthusiasm for participating in e-waste recycling activities. This study presented evidence about the effectiveness of extended Theory of Planned Behavior when appraising the young consumers' recycling intentions towards e-waste. From a practice point of view, this study conclusion surfaced a vital scientific basis for developing countries to encourage young adults to recycle e-waste for environmental protection.