Available online at www.sciencedirect.

com

Procedia - Social and Behavioral Sciences 35 (2012) 682 – 688

AicE-Bs 2011 Famagusta

Asia Pacific International Conference on Environment-Behaviour Studies, Salamis Bay

Conti Resort Hotel, Famagusta, North Cyprus, 7-9 December 2011

Environmental Problems and Quality of Life: Situational

Factor as a Predictor of Recycling Behaviour
Saripah Abdul Latifa, Mohd Shukri Omara, Yeop Hussin Bidina & Zainudin
Awangb*
a
Faculty of Business Management, Universiti Teknologi MARA Kelantan Campus, Machang 18500, Malaysia
b
Faculty of Mathematics and Computer Science, Universiti Teknologi MARA Kelantan Campus, Machang 18500, Malaysia

Abstract

Failure in managing solid waste could result in environmental deterioration, which affects the quality of life.
Recycling is argued to be a better solution to the problem. Although consumers’ awareness is increasing,
participations in recycling are still low. The objective is to examine the influence of situational factors on recycling
behaviour. Using cluster sampling, 300 respondents from selected urban areas in Malaysia were identified as
samples. Data is analysed using structural equation modeling. Situational factors are non- significant predictors of
recycling behaviour, but are significant predictors of intention to recycle. The findings have significant policy
implications in ensuring the quality of life of societies.

©
© 2012
2011 Published
PublishedbybyElsevier
ElsevierB.V.
Ltd.Selection
Selectionand/or peer-review under
and peer-reviewed underresponsibility of Centre
the responsibility for Environment-
of Centre for Environment-
Behaviour
Behaviour Studies(cE-Bs),
Studies (cE-Bs),Faculty
FacultyofofArchitecture,
Architecture,Planning
Planning&&Surveying,
Surveying,Universiti Teknologi
Universiti MARA,
Teknologi MARA, Malaysia
Malaysia
Open access under CC BY-NC-ND license.
Keywords: Quality of life; solid waste management; intention to recycle; recycling behaviour; situational factors

*
Corresponding author. Tel.: +6-012-929-4669; fax: +6-009-741-7741.
E-mail address: saripah@kelantan.uitm.edu.my.

1877-0428 © 2012 Published by Elsevier B.V. Selection and/or peer-review under responsibility of Centre for Environment-Behaviour Studies(cE-Bs),
Faculty of Architecture, Planning & Surveying, Universiti Teknologi MARA, Malaysia Open access under CC BY-NC-ND license.
doi:10.1016/j.sbspro.2012.02.137
 Saripah Abdul Latif et al. / Procedia - Social and Behavioral Sciences 35 (2012) 682 – 688 683

1. Introduction

Rapid increase in the number and intensity of environmental problems threatens all human societies.
The origin of man’s environmental problems could be related to the patterns of growth cherished by
modern societies. With the increasing of consumption demand, it generally leads to environmental
degradation (ECLAC, 2000). However, the intensity of environmental degradation could threaten the
quality of life of modern societies. With solid waste management turning into a global problem,
capitalizing on resource residuals is one way to ensure sustained material well-being (Chen & Tung,
2010). Failure in managing solid waste has been recognized as one of the contributing factors towards
environmental deterioration. This in turn will affect the quality of society’s life which refers to an
individual’s total well-being. Traditionally, land-filling is the solution for solid waste disposal. However,
such an action can pose an obvious and immediate danger to societies and eventually, the earth (Iyer &
Kashyap, 2007). Environmental degradation is usually viewed as just a threat to quality of life but is
actually considered as a fundamental threat to human lives.
Solid waste can be minimized by source reduction and recycling (Hopper, Yaws, Ho & Vichailak,
1993). Recycling seems to be an increasingly popular solution, since it not only reduces the waste, but
also turns materials into valuable resources. Materials like glass, metal, plastic and paper, are collected,
sorted and sent to facilities that can process them into new materials or products. In addition, recycling
generates a quantity of environmental, economic and social benefits (Chen & Tung, 2010). Thus,
recycling should be the order of the day if we are serious about the quality of life.
Although consumers’ awareness and concern about the problem of waste are constantly increasing,
participation in recycling is still rather low. It should be highlighted from a marketing viewpoint that
recycling is an issue of distribution channel. Research on determining factors of recycling behaviour or
environmental behaviour has traditionally focused on the study of personal variables (example: values,
beliefs), completely ignoring the direct role of situational variables (situation, physical-environment
traits), as Black, Stern and Elworth (1985) pointed out. However, past literature has also indicated
situational variable as a significant predictor of recycling behaviour. For instance, previous studies
demonstrated that factors such as time, cost, and the facilities’ conditions are regarded as hindrances to a
pro-environmental behaviour (De Young, 1989; Taylor & Todd, 1995; Vining & Ebreo, 1990). It is
suggested that by improving the facilities’ condition and making recycling more convenient, consumers’
recycling intentions and recycling frequency could be increased. Therefore, a specified study on the
predicting power of situational factors on recycling intention and recycling behaviour should be
considered in earnest.
The objectives to be achieved in this study are to examine the influence of situational factors on the
intention to recycle and recycling behaviour of consumers and to ascertain the influence of intention to
recycle on recycling behaviour of consumers. Further analysis is done to determine whether intention to
recycle is a mediator in linking situational factors to recycling behaviour.

2. Literature review

Findings from previous studies reflect that there is a common fear that significant alterations in
individual consumer behaviour almost certainly required for a society-wide move towards sustainability
(Merkel 2003; Monbiot 2006), will necessarily diminish one’s quality of life, in terms of subjective well-
being. However, Jacob et al. (2008), suggest that there may not necessarily be an insurmountable conflict
between an environmentally responsible lifestyle and personal quality of life. Ecologically sustainable
behaviour can also lead to an increase in quality of life. One such example of ecologically sustainable
behaviour is recycling behaviour.
684 Saripah Abdul Latif et al. / Procedia - Social and Behavioral Sciences 35 (2012) 682 – 688

Effective administration of a recycling program requires each household to clean, sort, store, and
deliver recyclables (Aadland & Caplan, 2006). In other words, such a program needs both the
government’s initiation and residents’ cooperation. Moreover, according to Derksen and Gartrell (1993),
the most important determinant of recycling behaviour is to have access to a structured and
institutionalized program that makes recycling easy and convenient. Past literature indicated
inconvenience as a major obstacle to recycling behaviour. McCarty and Shrum (1994) found that most
students conceive a clear desire to recycle, but a lack of facilities deters them from recycling. It seems
that recycling is inhibited by lack of facilities.
According to Ajzen (1991), a situational variable or factor refers to people’s perception of the ease or
difficulty of performing the behaviour. In contrast, Barr (2007) defined situational variable as a given
personal situation with regard to behavioral context (for example, service provision), individual
characteristics (such as socio-demographics) and individual knowledge and experience of the behaviour.
Situationism in psychology refers to an approach to personality which holds a concept that people are
more influenced by external, situational factors than by internal traits (Krahe, 1993). The seven situational
variables reviewed (prompts, public commitment, normative influence, goal setting, removing barriers,
providing rewards, and feedback) all produce significant increases in recycling behaviour (Schultz et al.,
1995). In fact, Chen and Tung (2010) argued that consumers’ perceived lack of facilities, which is another
situational factor, does exert moderating effects on determining consumers’ recycling intentions. In sum,
the influence of situational factors on recycling behaviour deserved to be studied in a more detailed
research.

3. Methodology

The focus of this study is the quality of life of Malaysian consumers in relation to their recycling
behaviour. A total of 300 respondents were selected randomly from three urban areas in Malaysia namely
Kuala Lumpur, Penang and Johor Bahru, by using cluster sampling. These areas are chosen based on the
availability of recycling facilities. Each of the three cities is serviced by three different providers.
This study employed self-administered questionnaire for data collection. Respondents could attend
them at their own convenient time without pressure or favor from any quarters (Zainudin, 2010). The
structured questionnaire was designed to measure all constructs involved in the theoretical framework as
shown in Figure 1, which illustrates the theorized inter-relationships among constructs in the study.
The theoretical framework shows the dependent construct is recycling behaviour, and the independent
construct is situational factors. The respondents’ intention to recycle is the mediating construct in the
study. These constructs are selected in light of prior researches on the determinants of engagement in
recycling. The study intends to test the following three hypotheses as shown in Figure 1:
x H1: Situational factor has significant and direct effects on recycling behaviour
x H2: Situational factor has significant and direct effects on intention to recycle
x H3: Intention to recycle has significant and direct effects on recycling behaviour
 Saripah Abdul Latif et al. / Procedia - Social and Behavioral Sciences 35 (2012) 682 – 688 685

Intention
to recycle H3

H2 R ecycling
B ehaviour
situational
H1
factors

Fig. 1.Theoretical framework

The analysis consists of two parts namely measurement model and structural model. The measurement
model for each construct is analyzed for its validity and reliability prior to modeling the structural model.
Before data analyses are carried out, data mining and descriptive analysis for demographic variables are
done. This is followed by factor analysis, determining the normality of the data, and finally hypotheses
are tested. Data is analyzed using structural equation modeling (SEM). The statistical package Analysis of
Moment Structures (AMOS) is used to analyze for model fit (Goodness of fit index), predictive power
(regression) and significance of paths for the specified model proposed.

4. Results and Discussion

The aim of the analyses is twofold. The first is to check the influence of situational factors on the
intention to recycle and recycling behaviour. Secondly, it is to check the mediator role of intention to
recycle linking between situational factors and recycling behaviour.
In the data mining process, all skewness values lie between -1.0 and 1.0, and is considered normally
distributed and acceptable to proceed with the parametric analysis procedure. Descriptive analysis for
demographic variables shows that the respondents are almost equally represented between male and
female. On average, the respondents are young single or married, with or without children, educated (at
least have attended secondary school or schooling until seventeen years old), and living in medium-cost
houses with two to three rooms. Only two demographic variables namely; educational level and types of
living areas (or location of houses) have a significant effect on intention to recycle or recycling behaviour
(significant values are less than 0.005). The most recycled materials in this study are paper, plastic and
aluminium cans. This data conformed to the findings of Hassan et al. (2000) and the result is also in line
with the information given by the service providers for the three cities under study – Alam Flora, SWM
and Penang Town Council.
Kaiser-Meyer-Oikin (KMO) measure of sampling adequacy for the three variables is close to 1.0.
These KMO values exceed the recommended value of 0.6 (Kaiser, 1974) and this suggests that the data is
appropriate to proceed with data reduction procedure.
686 Saripah Abdul Latif et al. / Procedia - Social and Behavioral Sciences 35 (2012) 682 – 688

.82
1
e1 G1
.44
1
e2 G2
.81
1 1.00
-.16 e3 G3
.89 .97
-.22
1 .79
-.15 -.20 .15 e4 G4
1.15 .78
-.12 -.20
1 1.46
-.12 e5 G5 .67
.55
1.29 Situational
.31 .71
1
e6 G6 Factor e20
.76 .87
1.27 1
.16
1 .76 .11 B1 e16
1
e7 G8 1.00 .97
.95 .79 1
.26
1
.70
.88 B2 e17
e8 G9 .86
.26
1.23 Behavior .66
1
1
.96 B4 e18
e9 G 10 1.93
1.13
.56 1
1 B5 e19
e10 G 13
.80

.97

1
e15 Intention

.89 .83
.94 1.00

C2 C4 C6 C8
1 1 1 1
1.13 1.04 .78 1.25

e11 e12 e13 e14

Fig.2 Unstandardized Model of Situational Factors produced by AMOS

Note: B1 – B5 are items measuring variable ‘recycling behaviour’
C2 – C8 are items measuring variable ‘intention to recycle’
G1 – G13 are items measuring variable ‘situational factors’

After removing the items with factor loading of less than 0.6, the fitness index for the measurement
model is 0.945, which is more than 0.9 and near to 1.0. This indicates that the proposed model is a very
good fit to the data (Bentler, 1990). The CMIN (Chi-sq) value divided by the degree of freedom is 3.3,
which also indicates a good fit for the model.
This study is interested to prove that ‘intention to recycle’ construct mediates the relationship between
‘situational factors’ construct with ‘recycling’ construct. The variable ‘intention to recycle’ is said to have
a mediating (intervening) effect in linking ‘situational factors’ to ‘recycling behaviour’ if the following
three conditions occur. If the regression coefficient of ‘situational factors’ on ‘recycling behaviour’ is not
 Saripah Abdul Latif et al. / Procedia - Social and Behavioral Sciences 35 (2012) 682 – 688 687

significant, the regression coefficient of ‘situational factors’ on ‘intention to recycle’ is significant, and
finally, the regression coefficient of ‘intention to recycle’ on ‘recycling behaviour’ is also significant.
Referring to Figure 2, it is found that the regression coefficient of situational factors on recycling
behaviour is significant (p-value = 0.002), meaning that situational factors is a significant predictor of
recycling behaviour, as have been claimed by Schultz et al. (1995) and Chen and Tung (2010). The
regression coefficient of situational factors on intention to recycle (p-value = 0.000) is also significant.
Thus, situational factor is also a significant predictor of intention to recycle.
Since the regression coefficient of intention to recycle on recycling behaviour (p-value = 0.027) is also
significant, therefore, construct intention to recycle is a partial mediator in linking situational factors to
recycling behaviour. Past literatures have shown that intention to recycle is an intervening variable or
mediating variable between several personal characteristics, such as attitudes towards the behaviour and
subjective norms (Ajzen, 1991), of consumers and recycling behaviour. However, the findings in this
study show that intention to recycle is only a partial mediator, not a full mediator, between situational
factors and recycling behaviour. However, all three hypotheses in this study are supported. Situational
factor has significant and direct effect on both recycling behaviour and intention to recycle. This finding
highlights very important information for all related bodies.

5. Conclusion and Recommendation

The results of this empirical study indicate that situational factors have significant influence on actual
recycling behaviour. Furthermore, situational factors also have significant influence on consumers’
intention to recycle. It means that the less the facilities provided to the consumers, and the more
inconvenience felt by them in carrying out the process of recycling, the lower would be the participation
in recycling. In addition, the respondents’ intention to recycle has significant influence on their actual
recycling behaviours. Conclusively, the study found that intention to recycle partially mediates the
relationship between situational factors with the consumers’ actual recycling behaviour. Intention to
recycle will only be a full mediator when situational factors have a non-significant influence on recycling
behaviour.

Nevertheless, this study has highlighted significant policy implications as far as the development and
implementation of publics’ recycling policies and programs are concerned. It shows that consumers will
actively engage in recycling when more facilities are provided. The government can manage to convince
the consumers that recycling is not only good for the environment and themselves but is also a prosocial
behaviour (Chen & Tung, 2010).

The findings of this study have provided the authorities with important information so that the local
authorities could create and implement effective strategies in order to encourage active public
participation in solid waste recycling, thus minimizing problems pertaining to waste management. Since
consumers’ perceived lack of facilities impacts consumers’ intention to recycle, local governments must
pay attention to the improvement and provisions of facilities for recycling, even if the services are
provided by the private sectors. More collecting centres should be created to do recycling work, and make
them more accessible to the consumers. Higher participation in recycling from consumers is crucial to
minimize environmental degradation. Indeed, when we have better environmental quality, then we and
the future generations will have better quality of life.

Since intention to recycle is only a partial mediator, further research should be carried out by
considering other mediating or moderating variables, especially cross-cultural factors. More studies are
688 Saripah Abdul Latif et al. / Procedia - Social and Behavioral Sciences 35 (2012) 682 – 688

recommended among other groups such as schools, universities, hospitals and businesses to understand
different recycling behaviours among different groups. Other components of situational factors could also
be introduced in the study.

References

Aadland, D. & Caplan, A. J. (2006). Curbside recycling: Waste resource or waste of resources? Journal of Policy Analysis and
Management, 25, pp 855-874
Ajzen, I. (1991). The theory of planned behavior. Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes, 50, 179-211.
Barr, S. (2007). Factors influencing environmental attitudes and behaviors: A U.K. case study of household waste management,
Environment and Behavior, Vol 39, No 4, 435 - 473
Bentler, P.M. (1990). Comparative fit indexes in structural models. Psychological Buletin 107:238 – 246
Black, J. S., Stern, P. C. & Elworth, J. T. (1985). Personal and contextual influences on household energy adaptation, Journal of
Applied Psychology, 70, pp 3-21
Boldero, J. (1995). The prediction of household recycling of newspapers: The role of attitudes, intentions and situational factors,
Journal of Applied Social Psychology, 25, pp 440-462
Chen, M. & Tung ,P. (2010). The moderating effect of perceived lack of facilities on consumers’ recycling intentions, Environment
and Behavior, 42(6), pp 824-844. Sage Publications
De Young, R. (1989). Exploring the difference between recyclers and non-recyclers: The role of information. Journal of
Environmental Systems, 18, pp341-351
Derksen, L. & Gartrell, J. (1993). The social context of recycling. American Sociological Review, 58, pp 434-442
Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC) (2000). Role of environmental awareness in achieving
sustainable development.
Hassan, M. N., Rahman, R.A., Chong, T.L., Zaharia, Z. & Awang, M. (2000) Waste recycling in Malaysia: Problems and prospects.
Waste Management and Research, Vol. 18 Issue 4, pp 320-328
Hopper, J. R., Yaws, C. L., Ho, T. C. & Vichailak, M. (1993). Waste minimization by process modification. Waste Management,
13, pp 13-14
Iyer, E. S., & Kashyap, R. K. (2007). Consumer recycling: Role of incentives, information, and social class, Journal of Consumer
Behavior, 6, 32-47
Jacob, J., Jovic, E. & Brinkerhoff, M. B. (2008). Personal and planetary well-being: mindfulness meditation, pro-environmental
behavior and personal quality of life in a survey from social justice and ecological sustainability movement @Springer Science
+ Business Media B.V. pp. 275-294
Kaiser, H. F. (1974). An index of factorial simplicity. Psychometrika, 39, pp 31-36
Krahe, B. (1993). Personality and Social Psychology: Towards a synthesis. London. Sage
McCarty, J. A. & Shrum, L. J. (1994). The recycling of solid waste: Personal values, value orientations, and attitudes about
recycling as antecedents of recycling behaviour, Journal of Business Research, 30, pp 53-62
Merkel, J. (2003). Radical simplicity: Small footprints on a finite earth. Gabriola Island, British Columbia: New Society
Monbiot, G. (2006). Heat: How to stop the planet from burning. Scarborough, Ontario: Doubleday Canada
Nunally, J. C. (1978). Psychometric theory (2nd ed.) New York: McGraw-Hill
Schultz P. W, Oskamp S. & Mainieri T. (1995). Who recycles and when? A review of personal and situational factor, Journal of
Environmental Psychology, Volume 15, Issue 2, pp 105-121
Taylor, S. & Todd, P. (1995). Understanding household garbage reduction behaviour: A test of an integrated model. Journal of
Public Policy & Marketing, 4, pp 192-205
Vining, J. & Ebreo, A. (1990). What makes a recycler? A comparison of recyclers and nonrecyclers. Environment and Behavior,
Vol. 22 No 1, January 1990, 55-73
Zainudin, A. (2011). A handbook on SEM: Structural equation modelling, 2nd Edition.
Zainudin, A. (2010). Research methodology for business and social science. University Publication Centre (UPENA), UiTM Shah
Alam.