IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/gam/jijerp/v19y2022i15p9383-d877005.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Predicting the Intention to Sort Waste at Home in Rural Communities in Lebanon: An Application of the Theory of Planned Behaviour

Author

Listed:
  • Marco Bardus

    (Institute of Applied Health Research, College of Medical and Dental Sciences, University of Birmingham, Birmingham B15 2TT, UK
    Department of Health Promotion and Community Health, Faculty of Health Sciences, American University of Beirut, Beirut 1107 2020, Lebanon)

  • May A. Massoud

    (Department of Environmental Health, Faculty of Health Sciences, American University of Beirut, Beirut 1107 2020, Lebanon)

Abstract

Low- and middle-income countries (LMICs) such as Lebanon have limited technical, economic, and social infrastructures to manage municipal solid waste properly. Understanding what motivates citizens to sort waste at home is paramount to designing effective, efficient, and equitable waste management interventions. Within the solid waste management project “RES-Q” in Southern Lebanon, we investigated the socio-cognitive predictors of waste sorting in a sample of 767 households from the targeted area using the Theory of Planned Behaviour (TPB). Perceived behavioural control (β = 0.96, p < 0.001), perceived norms (β = −0.30, p < 0.001), and current behaviour (β = 0.06, p < 0.001) were the strongest predictors of intention; attitude toward separating waste was not a significant predictor (β = 0.04, p = 0.3881). Consequently, future behavioural interventions should build capability and opportunity to perform the behaviour before normalising it. For example, citizens should receive bins and bags to separate waste and be shown how to perform the behaviour and how easy and convenient it is to increase their behavioural control. In parallel, waste collection and treatment infrastructures must be in place so that citizens can see that sorting waste is a social norm. These actions will ensure the success of future behavioural interventions within the RES-Q project and beyond.

Suggested Citation

  • Marco Bardus & May A. Massoud, 2022. "Predicting the Intention to Sort Waste at Home in Rural Communities in Lebanon: An Application of the Theory of Planned Behaviour," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 19(15), pages 1-18, July.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jijerp:v:19:y:2022:i:15:p:9383-:d:877005
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/19/15/9383/pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/19/15/9383/
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Ajzen, Icek, 1991. "The theory of planned behavior," Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes, Elsevier, vol. 50(2), pages 179-211, December.
    2. Otoo, Miriam & Drechsel, Pay, 2018. "Resource recovery from waste: business models for energy, nutrient and water reuse in low- and middle-income countries," IWMI Books, International Water Management Institute, number 284165, January.
    3. Lin Xu & Maoliang Ling & Yujie Lu & Meng Shen, 2017. "Understanding Household Waste Separation Behaviour: Testing the Roles of Moral, Past Experience, and Perceived Policy Effectiveness within the Theory of Planned Behaviour," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 9(4), pages 1-27, April.
    4. Botetzagias, Iosif & Dima, Andora-Fani & Malesios, Chrisovaladis, 2015. "Extending the Theory of Planned Behavior in the context of recycling: The role of moral norms and of demographic predictors," Resources, Conservation & Recycling, Elsevier, vol. 95(C), pages 58-67.
    5. Alexandre Tisserant & Stefan Pauliuk & Stefano Merciai & Jannick Schmidt & Jacob Fry & Richard Wood & Arnold Tukker, 2017. "Solid Waste and the Circular Economy: A Global Analysis of Waste Treatment and Waste Footprints," Journal of Industrial Ecology, Yale University, vol. 21(3), pages 628-640, June.
    6. Ossama Ahmed Labib & Latifah Manaf & Amir Hamzah Sharaai & Siti Sarah Mohamad Zaid, 2021. "Understanding the Effect of Internal and External Factors on Households’ Willingness to Sort Waste in Dammam City, Saudi Arabia," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 18(18), pages 1-18, September.
    7. Hannah Barker & Peter J. Shaw & Beth Richards & Zoe Clegg & Dianna Smith, 2021. "What Nudge Techniques Work for Food Waste Behaviour Change at the Consumer Level? A Systematic Review," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(19), pages 1-18, October.
    8. Satish Kumar & Riya Sureka & Sisira Colombage, 2020. "Capital structure of SMEs: a systematic literature review and bibliometric analysis," Management Review Quarterly, Springer, vol. 70(4), pages 535-565, November.
    9. Navarro Ferronato & Vincenzo Torretta, 2019. "Waste Mismanagement in Developing Countries: A Review of Global Issues," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 16(6), pages 1-28, March.
    10. Alessandro Concari & Gerjo Kok & Pim Martens, 2020. "A Systematic Literature Review of Concepts and Factors Related to Pro-Environmental Consumer Behaviour in Relation to Waste Management Through an Interdisciplinary Approach," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(11), pages 1-50, May.
    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. Yalin Yuan & Minyue Xu & Hanxin Chen, 2022. "What Factors Affect Farmers’ Levels of Domestic Waste Sorting Behavior? A Case Study from Shaanxi Province, China," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 19(19), pages 1-14, September.
    2. Zhaoyun Yin & Jing Ma, 2022. "Rational Choice or Altruism Factor: Determinants of Residents’ Behavior toward Household Waste Separation in Xi’an, China," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 19(19), pages 1-12, September.
    3. Vasilii Erokhin & Kamel Mouloudj & Ahmed Chemseddine Bouarar & Smail Mouloudj & Tianming Gao, 2024. "Investigating Farmers’ Intentions to Reduce Water Waste through Water-Smart Farming Technologies," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 16(11), pages 1-19, May.
    4. Nor Isnaeni Dwi Arista & Dwini Handayani & Ninin Ernawati, 2023. "Is It Possible to Implement the Same Circular-Economy Concept in Rural and Urban Areas? Study on Willingness to Pay for Household Waste," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(7), pages 1-14, March.
    5. Xuxi Wang & Jing Tan, 2022. "The Perception and Attitude of Farmers toward Domestic Waste Classifications: A Case Study on Wusheng County, Sichuan Province, China," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 19(20), pages 1-14, October.
    6. Teng Yu & Jian Dai & Chengliang Wang, 2023. "Adoption of blended learning: Chinese university students’ perspectives," Palgrave Communications, Palgrave Macmillan, vol. 10(1), pages 1-16, December.
    7. Farrukh Rafiq & Eden Samuel Parthiban & Yaisna Rajkumari & Mohd Adil & Mohd Nasir & Nikhil Dogra, 2023. "From Thinking Green to Riding Green: A Study on Influencing Factors in Electric Vehicle Adoption," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 16(1), pages 1-16, December.

    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. Alessandro Concari & Gerjo Kok & Pim Martens, 2020. "A Systematic Literature Review of Concepts and Factors Related to Pro-Environmental Consumer Behaviour in Relation to Waste Management Through an Interdisciplinary Approach," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(11), pages 1-50, May.
    2. Zhaoyun Yin & Jing Ma, 2022. "Rational Choice or Altruism Factor: Determinants of Residents’ Behavior toward Household Waste Separation in Xi’an, China," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 19(19), pages 1-12, September.
    3. Nur Shafeera Mohamad & Ai Chin Thoo & Hon Tat Huam, 2022. "The Determinants of Consumers’ E-Waste Recycling Behavior through the Lens of Extended Theory of Planned Behavior," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(15), pages 1-27, July.
    4. Zhuling Liu & Janet Z. Yang & Susan S. Clark & Michael A. Shelly, 2022. "Recycling as a planned behavior: the moderating role of perceived behavioral control," Environment, Development and Sustainability: A Multidisciplinary Approach to the Theory and Practice of Sustainable Development, Springer, vol. 24(9), pages 11011-11026, September.
    5. Tianyang Lou & Deyong Wang & Huili Chen & Dongjie Niu, 2020. "Different Perceptions of Belief: Predicting Household Solid Waste Separation Behavior of Urban and Rural Residents in China," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(18), pages 1-17, September.
    6. Xiaojian Hu & Nan Wu & Nuo Chen, 2021. "Young People’s Behavioral Intentions towards Low-Carbon Travel: Extending the Theory of Planned Behavior," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 18(5), pages 1-15, February.
    7. Luo, Zongwei & Dubey, Rameshwar & Gunasekaran, Angappa & Childe, Stephen J. & Papadopoulos, Thanos & Hazen, Benjamin & Roubaud, David, 2017. "Sustainable production framework for cement manufacturing firms: A behavioural perspective," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 78(C), pages 495-502.
    8. Zhihua Xu & Jingmei Li & Jingzhu Shan & Wensi Zhang, 2021. "Extending the Theory of Planned Behavior to understand residents’ coping behaviors for reducing the health risks posed by haze pollution," Environment, Development and Sustainability: A Multidisciplinary Approach to the Theory and Practice of Sustainable Development, Springer, vol. 23(2), pages 2122-2142, February.
    9. Lizin, Sebastien & Van Dael, Miet & Van Passel, Steven, 2017. "Battery pack recycling: Behaviour change interventions derived from an integrative theory of planned behaviour study," Resources, Conservation & Recycling, Elsevier, vol. 122(C), pages 66-82.
    10. Murat Okumah & Julia Martin-Ortega & Paula Novo & Pippa J. Chapman, 2020. "Revisiting the Determinants of Pro-Environmental Behaviour to Inform Land Management Policy: A Meta-Analytic Structural Equation Model Application," Land, MDPI, vol. 9(5), pages 1-33, April.
    11. Mauro Viccaro & Adele Coppola & Maria Consiglia D’Angelo & Francesco Genovese & Severino Romano & Mario Cozzi, 2023. "Young People Are Not All the Same! The Theory of Planned Behaviour Applied to Food Waste Behaviour across Young Italian Generations," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(20), pages 1-17, October.
    12. Diana Puspita Sari & Nur Aini Masruroh & Anna Maria Sri Asih, 2021. "Consumer Intention to Participate in E-Waste Collection Programs: A Study of Smartphone Waste in Indonesia," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(5), pages 1-28, March.
    13. Wang, Xingdong & Lu, Pan, 2021. "Drivers of Farmers’ Intentions to Use Eco-Breeding: Integrating the Theory of Planned Behavior and the Norm Activation Model," 2021 ASAE 10th International Conference (Virtual), January 11-13, Beijing, China 329393, Asian Society of Agricultural Economists (ASAE).
    14. Liu, Diyi & Du, Huibin & Southworth, Frank & Ma, Shoufeng, 2017. "The influence of social-psychological factors on the intention to choose low-carbon travel modes in Tianjin, China," Transportation Research Part A: Policy and Practice, Elsevier, vol. 105(C), pages 42-53.
    15. Yixuan Wang & Xingle Long & Liang Li & Qinglin Wang & Xiping Ding & Sijia Cai, 2021. "Extending theory of planned behavior in household waste sorting in China: the moderating effect of knowledge, personal involvement, and moral responsibility," Environment, Development and Sustainability: A Multidisciplinary Approach to the Theory and Practice of Sustainable Development, Springer, vol. 23(5), pages 7230-7250, May.
    16. Perri, Cecilia & Giglio, Carlo & Corvello, Vincenzo, 2020. "Smart users for smart technologies: Investigating the intention to adopt smart energy consumption behaviors," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 155(C).
    17. Centobelli, Piera & Cerchione, Roberto & Esposito, Emilio & Passaro, Renato & Shashi,, 2021. "Determinants of the transition towards circular economy in SMEs: A sustainable supply chain management perspective," International Journal of Production Economics, Elsevier, vol. 242(C).
    18. Shumei Liu & Yi-Te Chiang & Chie-Chien Tseng & Eric Ng & Gwo-Liang Yeh & Wei-Ta Fang, 2018. "The Theory of Planned Behavior to Predict Protective Behavioral Intentions against PM2.5 in Parents of Young Children from Urban and Rural Beijing, China," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 15(10), pages 1-17, October.
    19. Chuanhui Liao & Dingtao Zhao & Shuang Zhang & Lanfang Chen, 2018. "Determinants and the Moderating Effect of Perceived Policy Effectiveness on Residents’ Separation Intention for Rural Household Solid Waste," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 15(4), pages 1-17, April.
    20. Wang, Yi-Jia & Wang, Qi & Wang, Naihui, 2023. "The role of rationality and altruism in rural households' acceptance of straw energy utilization: Evidence from Northeast China," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 177(C).

    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:jijerp:v:19:y:2022:i:15:p:9383-:d:877005. 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.