Understanding consumers’ behavior intention of recycling mobile phone through formal channels in China: The effect of privacy concern

Resources, Environment and Sustainability

Ling Zhang¹  Wenchun Ran¹  Huijun Wu²  Songyan Jiang³  Zengwei Yuan⁴ 

[1] College of Economics and Management, Nanjing Forestry University, Nanjing 210037, PR China;School of Earth and Environment, Anhui University of Science and Technology, Huainan 232001, PR China;School of Management Science and Engineering, Nanjing University of Information Science and Technology, Nanjing, 210044, PR China;State Key Laboratory of Pollution Control and Resources Reuse, School of the Environment, Nanjing University, Nanjing 210023, PR China;

关键词: e-waste;    Formal recycling;    Privacy concern;    Urban mining;    China;   

DOI  :  

来源: DOAJ

【 摘 要 】

The aim of this paper is to explore consumers’ intention of recycling obsolete mobile phone through formal channels in China. Taking Jiangsu Province as an example, the survey results revealed that although nearly half of consumers prefer to save their obsoleted mobile phones at residence, those who are willing to participate in recycling prefer formal recycling channels instead of informal ones. To explore the determinants of formal recycling intention from the perspective of consumers’ psychological characteristics, an integrative model based on the theory of planned behavior was established, in which the effect of consumers’ privacy concern was thoroughly explored. The results indicated that recycling attitude, subjective norm, perceived behavioral control, and moral norm are all positively influential factors. Inconsistent with prior studies, consumers’ privacy concern is found to have a direct positive rather than a negative effect on formal recycling intention. It also has a negative moderating effect on the relationship between subjective norm and formal recycling intention. Therefore, to promote consumers’ formal recycling behavior of obsolete mobile phones, a series of measures are proposed to influence these psychological factors in the model. First, a positive social atmosphere for participation in formal recycling should be vigorously created. Then, further efforts are required to increase the publicity and availability of formal recycling channels. Furthermore, joint efforts should be made for privacy information protection during formal recycling processes, including establishing certification standards for secure data erasure, further routinizing recycling processes and establishing a credible image to obtain consumers’ trust by formal recycling enterprises, etc.

【 授权许可】

Unknown