The impact of mandatory policies on residents’ willingness to separate household waste: A moderated mediation model

Li, Wei; Jin, Zihan; Liu, Xiaoguang; Li, Guomin; Wang, Lei

doi:10.1016/j.jenvman.2020.111226

Cited by 26 publications

(34 citation statements)

References 62 publications

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“…However, if somebody did not separate waste, he or she will not be punished. A non-compulsory or voluntary-based policy could not effectively restrain residents' free-riding behavior, so it had little effect on their waste separation [20]. In contrast, several studies have found that volunteer supervision significantly facilitates waste separation [46][47][48].…”

Section: Waste Separation Policiesmentioning

confidence: 98%

“…Mandatory policies refer to the rules governing behavior, and policymakers design a package of commonly agreed standards, penalties, supervision, and enforcement when mandates are used [35,36]. Previous studies suggest that mandatory policies play key roles in promoting waste separation [20,[37][38][39]. For instance, in July 2019, Shanghai took the lead in formulating and implementing a mandatory waste separation policy via supervisory guidance, penalties, regulated disposal times, and others [40], and its waste separation rate increased from 15% to 80% [41].…”

Section: Waste Separation Policiesmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The mechanism of efficient mandatory policies can be explained by deterrence theory, which proposes that mandatory policies can act as a deterrent [20,42]. Deterrence theory assumes that individuals make rational decisions through a cost-benefit analysis.…”

Section: Waste Separation Policiesmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Although some waste management strategies have been implemented, waste source separation has not been successful due to a lack of public participation thus far [3,8,20]. Despite numerous public awareness campaigns conducted over the years, public participation in waste separation is still at a low level [4,17,[21][22][23][24].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Despite numerous public awareness campaigns conducted over the years, public participation in waste separation is still at a low level [4,17,[21][22][23][24]. Most residents express a willingness to separate waste, but only a few perform the task on a daily basis [20,22,25,26]. Thus, it is a key question to promote public participation in waste separation.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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I Am Better Than Others: Waste Management Policies and Self-Enhancement Bias

et al. 2021

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Waste source separation has been a social dilemma globally with a low participation rate. This research attempted to solve this dilemma by exploring the effect of mandatory (versus voluntary) policies on waste separation from the perspective of the self-versus based on deterrence theory and self-enhancement motivation. Hypothetical scenarios were used to demonstrate the effectiveness of mandatory policies and self-enhancement bias for residents (n = 589) and adolescents (n = 121). Study 2 was performed to replicate the findings of Study 1 with a no-implementation policy condition, and Study 3 extended the findings to adolescents. We found robust self-enhancement bias, where participants perceived themselves to be better than others in both willingness to perform and attitudes toward waste separation behavior. Specifically, participants tended to perceive themselves to perform waste separation well when policy compliance was voluntary, but they tended to perceive others to perform well when policy compliance was mandatory with supervision. These findings highlight the impact of mandatory policy with supervision and self-enhancement bias in waste management. The present studies provide substantial evidence and implications for the necessity of supervision in mandatory policy implementation.

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