Normative beliefs, attitudes, and social norms: People reduce waste as an index of social relationships when spending leisure time

Abstract

This study has adopted and refined Ajzen's theory of planned behavior, theory of reasoned action, and the value-belief-norm theory by Stern et al. to investigate the effects of normative beliefs, attitudes, and social norms on pro-environmental behavioral intentions. A total of 391 valid responses were collected from visitors to a theme park in Taiwan. A structure equation analysis indicated that the overall fit of the proposed model was supported. It was also found that both attitudes and social norms had positive and significant influence on waste reduction. While the results did not reveal any direct relation between normative beliefs and behavioral intentions, normative beliefs had positive direct influence on social norms and attitudes, which in turn had an impact on behavioral intentions. The findings provided further insights about pro-environmental behavioral intentions from an Asia perspective and highlighted important implications for environmental policies and education to reduce waste.