A multilevel perspective to explain recycling behaviour in communities

Carmen Tabernero; Bernardo Hernández; Esther Cuadrado; Bárbara Luque; Cícero R Pereira

doi:10.1016/j.jenvman.2015.05.024

A multilevel perspective to explain recycling behaviour in communities

J Environ Manage. 2015 Aug 15:159:192-201. doi: 10.1016/j.jenvman.2015.05.024. Epub 2015 Jun 14.

Authors

Carmen Tabernero¹, Bernardo Hernández², Esther Cuadrado³, Bárbara Luque⁴, Cícero R Pereira⁵

Affiliations

¹ University of Córdoba, Department of Psychology, Avenida San Alberto Magno s/n, 14004 Córdoba, Spain. Electronic address: carmen.tabernero@uco.es.
² University of La Laguna, Department of Social Psychology, Campus de Guajara, 38071 La Laguna, Tenerife, Spain. Electronic address: bhdezr@ull.es.
³ University of Córdoba, Department of Psychology, Avenida San Alberto Magno s/n, 14004 Córdoba, Spain. Electronic address: esther.cuadrado@uco.es.
⁴ University of Córdoba, Department of Psychology, Avenida San Alberto Magno s/n, 14004 Córdoba, Spain. Electronic address: b.luque@uco.es.
⁵ Institute of Social Sciences, University of Lisbon, Av. Prof. Anibal de Bettencourt, 9, 1600-189 Lisbon, Portugal. Electronic address: cicero.pereira@ics.ul.pt.

PMID: 26081172
DOI: 10.1016/j.jenvman.2015.05.024

Abstract

Previous research on the motivation for environmentally responsible behaviour has focused mainly on individual variables, rather than organizational or collective variables. Therefore, the results of those studies are hardly applicable to environmental management. This study considers individual, collective, and organizational variables together that contribute to the management of environmental waste. The main aim is to identify, through the development of a multilevel model, those predictive variables of recycling behaviour that help organizations to increase the recycling rates in their communities. Individual (age, gender, educational level, self-efficacy with respect to residential recycling, individual recycling behaviour), organizational (satisfaction with the quality of the service provided by a recycling company), and collective (community recycling rates, number of inhabitants, community efficacy beliefs) motivational factors relevant to recycling behaviour were analysed. A sample of 1501 residents from 55 localities was surveyed. The results of multilevel analyses indicated that there was significant variability within and between localities. Interactions between variables at the level of the individual (e.g. satisfaction with service quality) and variables at the level of the collective (e.g. community efficacy) predicted recycling behaviour in localities with low and high community recycling rates and large and small populations. The interactions showed that the relationship between self-efficacy and recycling is stronger in localities with weak community efficacy beliefs than in communities with strong beliefs. The findings show that the relationship between satisfaction with service quality and recycling behaviour is stronger in localities with strong community efficacy beliefs than in communities with weaker beliefs and a smaller population. The results are discussed accordingly in relation to theory and possible contribution to waste management. Those findings may be incorporated in national and international environmental policies in order to promote environmentally responsible behaviour in citizenship.

Keywords: Community efficacy; Multilevel; Recycling behaviour; Satisfaction with service quality; Self-efficacy.

Publication types

Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

Adult
Aged
Female
Humans
Male
Middle Aged
Models, Theoretical
Motivation
Personal Satisfaction
Recycling*
Self Efficacy
Socioeconomic Factors*
Spain
Surveys and Questionnaires
Waste Management*