A moral basis for recycling: Extending the theory of planned behaviour

Abstract

With evidence suggesting conservation attitudes and moral norms lack discriminant validity, the study’s aim was to test if this could be established for recycling, as well as how moral norms can extend the theory of planned behaviour (TPB). A sample of 271 participants that consisted predominantly of students was obtained for this correlational study (117 males and 154 females, M age = 24 years). Since confirmatory factor analysis indicated convergent validity (r = .69, p < .05), path analysis was conducted on a model that replaced attitudes with moral norms in the TPB. This model was found to fit the data well, with 39% and 41% of the variance in recycling intention and behaviour explained respectively. Overall, results supported the utility of appealing to moral norms as it was associated with a higher recycling intention (β = .33, 95% CI [.23, .43]), and ultimately, actual recycling.