Mandatory policies and willingness to separate waste: a construal level perspective

Abstract

Mandating policies about waste separation is essential for solving the urban waste crisis. To clarify the impact of mandatory policies on residents’ willingness to separate waste, based on Construal Level Theory, this study constructed a mechanism model for the impact of mandatory policies on residents’ willingness to separate waste and analyzed the role of perceived cost and perceived benefit. The model was validated using a questionnaire survey of 1,370 urban residents via hierarchical regression analysis and the bootstrap method. Results corroborate that construal level moderates the relationship between mandatory policy and willingness to separate waste. Specifically, when individuals use a high construal level, mandatory policies have a positive effect on their willingness (b = 0.481) and this relationship is mediated by perceived benefits. In contrast, when individuals use a low construal level, mandatory policies have a negative effect on their willingness (b = −0.358) and this relationship is mediated by perceived costs.

Keywords:

• mandatory policies
• construal level
• waste separation willingness
• perceived benefits
• perceived costs

Ethics statement

The studies involving human participants were reviewed and approved by the Ethics Committee. The patients/participants provided their written informed consent to participate in this study. Written informed consent was obtained from the individual(s) for the publication of any potentially identifiable images or data included in this article.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Supplementary material

Supplemental data for this article can be accessed online at https://doi.org/10.1080/09640568.2024.2336001.

Additional information

Funding

This research was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant Nos 72174137, 71373170).