Previous studies have confirmed that individual waste management behavior is influenced by both rational-based and altruistic-oriented beliefs and attitudes. Scholars incorporated personal norms in Ajzen’s theory of planned behavior and confirmed its usefulness in predicting waste management behavior. However, limited attention has been paid to the interactions between the variables in the model. Scholars also commented that the cognitive dimension was largely neglected in the current socio-psychological framework of waste management behavior. This study intends to address this issue by incorporating environmental concern and environmental knowledge in the model and examining the psychological paths linking these variables to waste management behavior within the expanded model of planned behavior. Based on a cross-sectional survey among 434 university students in China, the results showed that subjective norms, perceived behavioral control, personal norms, and environmental knowledge were essential predictors of waste management behavior, whereas the direct effect of attitude was not statistically significant. Environmental concern and subjective norms could influence waste management behavior through personal norms. Environmental knowledge could influence waste management behavior indirectly through environmental concern, personal norms, and perceived behavioral control. Moreover, perceived behavioral control served as a mediator between the relationship of personal norms and waste management behavior.

A Chinese version of the revised NEP Scale was generated and adopted in a survey among 507 students (age 10 to 12 years old) from three elementary schools in Shenzhen, China. The results show an acceptable level of internal consistency (Cronbach's alpha = .65) but some abnormalities on the modified NEP scale: items 1 and 7 presented very low item-total correlations (≤.10); factor analysis generated five unclearly-patterned factors. The abnormalities on the modified scale, in light of a focus group interview during item modification stage, are partially attributed to some fundamental problems on the original revised NEP Scale per se on one hand, and may be partially understood as cultural differences in interpreting statements on the scale between China and Western nations on the other.

This study addresses the relationships that ecological worldview, environmental sensitivity, and personal norms have with pro-environmental behaviors in a particular child population in urban China. The survey questionnaires were distributed to 410 Grade 6 students from eight Green Schools in Shenzhen, China. The sample included 223 (54.3%) boys and 187 (45.6%) girls with ages ranging from 10 to 13 years. The results from structural equation modelling reveal that environmental sensitivity and personal norms were two critical factors in determining students' pro-environmental behaviors. The influence of ecological worldview was fully mediated by personal norms, whereas the effect of environmental sensitivity was partially mediated by both personal norms and ecological worldview.

Previous studies have pointed out the importance of emotional affiliation with nature in fostering environmentalism, but the mechanisms through which such emotional motives influence pro-environmental behaviors are still unclear. To address this issue, this study introduced love of nature into the value-belief-norm model as an emotional basis. The model was examined in predicting high-cost and low-cost green consumer behaviors (GCBs) in selected undergraduate student populations in eastern China. Using data from an online survey (N = 291), this study found personal norms positively predicted both high-cost and low-cost GCBs. Ecological worldview positively predicted low-cost GCBs and its effect was larger than that of personal norms. Love of nature had positive effects on biospheric values and personal norms. The relationships between love of nature and the two types of GCBs were mediated mainly by personal norms, ecological worldview, and biospheric values. The results supported the argument that emotional affiliation to nature offers an essential basis for a moral concern that guides GCBs. The findings also suggest moral concerns may be more salient for difficult and inconvenient GCBs.