Environmental Education and its Role in Enhancing Intention to Separate Waste: Evidence from Higher Education in Vietnam

Abstract

Objective: environmental education fosters awareness, behaviors, and actions towards environmental sustainability. This research used the Theory of Planned Behavior to investigate the determinants of intention for waste separation at Vietnamese universities toward enhancing awareness related to environmental activities. Method: the study collected data from 490 responses from students from higher education institutions in Vietnam and employed quantitative methods to analyze factors affecting the intention to separate waste at higher education campuses Results: the finding indicates that higher education institutions have formal activities in their training programs and extracurricular activities to raise awareness of environmental issues. The findings also reveal that attitude toward environmental issues, subjective norms, perceived behavior control, and environmental education positively affect the intention to separate the campus waste. Conclusions: this study contributes to the growing body of evidence reinforcing environmental education’s role in improving the intention to address environmental issues. The results imply that promoting environmental education activities will help increase environmental intentions, helping higher education institutions green their training programs.