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The interactive influence of personal norm and policy measures on urban resident waste separation behaviour

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Abstract

To explore the factors that influence residents’ waste separation intention (WSI) and the interaction mechanism among different influencing factors, a conceptual model based on the incentive and constraint mechanism was constructed , and six hypotheses were proposed. Partial least square (PLS) was then used to analyse the data from 323 survey samples. The findings indicate that material incentive policy measures (MIPM), spiritual incentive policy measures (SIPM) and binding policy measures (BPM) are positively correlated with WSI. Of these, BPM exert the most significant influence on WSI. The findings also indicate that personal norms (PN) plays a moderating role in the relationship between BPM and WSI. These results can help decision-makers to take effective action to improve WSI among urban residents.

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Data availability

The data that support the findings of this study are available on request from the corresponding author. The data are not publicly available due to privacy or ethical restrictions.

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Acknowledgements

This work was partially supported by the Research Fund Project of Sichuan University Ideological and Political Education Research Center [grant numbers CSZ20027]; the Research Fund Project of Philosophy and Social Science of Chengdu University of Technology [grant numbers YJ2020-NS004]; the Research Fund Project of Sichuan Center for Rural Development Research [grant numbers [CR2112]; and Sichuan Province Science and Technology Support Program [grant numbers 2021JDR0340].

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Appendix See Table 5

Table 5 Measurement items

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Zhu, H., Liu, Y., Wang, F. et al. The interactive influence of personal norm and policy measures on urban resident waste separation behaviour. J Mater Cycles Waste Manag 25, 2012–2024 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10163-023-01628-5

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