Determinants of sustainable waste management behavior of Malaysian academics

Abstract

The global increase of urban solid waste in developing countries is creating highly significant challenges. There is a lack of research on sustainable waste management behavior (SWMB) among university academic staff. Hence, this study aims to examine the effect of attitude, subjective norm, and perceived behavior control on SWMB. This study employed the theory of planned behavior (TPB) as the underlying theory. This study’s sample consisted of 252 academic staff from the top three sustainable universities in Malaysia listed by the UiGreenMetric in 2018. The academic staff were surveyed by using an online and self-administered survey and analyzed by using PLS-SEMThe results showed that attitude, subjective norms, and perceived behavioral control positively affect SWMB. This study makes significant contributions to both theory and practice. The study fills in the literature gap and supports the TPB theory. This study provides empirical evidence on the effect of main TPB variables, such as attitude, subjective norms, and perceived behavior control on SWMB through a quantitative research approach, exploring all three of the 3Rs to study academic staff’s waste management behavior on campus. From the managerial perspective, this study’s results provide empirical evidence on factors that affect SWMB among academic staff. This information is crucial to managers and policymakers to plan strategies to engage academic staff with SWMB. Managers and policymakers should focus on conducting more campaigns on sustainable waste management for academic staff. The campaigns would enhance academic staff’s attitude, subjective norms, and perceived behavioral control towards practicing SWMB for a more sustainable campus in the future.