Exploring consumers’ usage intention of reusable express packaging: An extended norm activation model

PERSONAL NORM AND PRO-ENVIRONMENTAL CONSUMER BEHAVIOR: AN APPLICATION OF NORM ACTIVATION THEORY

Problem awareness does not predict littering: A field study on littering in the Gambia

<p><strong>The IPCC states in its latest, 6th synthesis report that human activities have ‘unequivocally’ resulted in a rise in the surface temperature of the earth, inducing changes in the atmosphere, oceans, cryosphere and biosphere which have had adverse effects on both the natural world and humanity (IPCC, 2023). In order to limit warming to 1.5oC, the IPCC posits that annual greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions must decrease by 45% of their 2010 levels by 2030, and drop to net zero by 2050 (Masson-Delmotte et al., 2019). At present, 65% of global GHG emissions can be directly and indirectly linked to consumption within households (Ivanova et al., 2016). Consequently, individuals can have a profound effect on the levels of GHG’s emitted into the atmosphere. Thus, changing individual behaviour within households represents a significant leverage point (Ivanova et al., 2016; Pörtner et al., 2022). It is known that further actions may be taken by individuals to reduce the carbon footprint of households (Hall et al., 2018; Steg, 2018). However, it remains unclear how to induce individuals to undertake such additional pro-environmental behaviours.</strong></p><p>Currently, climate change policies have recruited economic understandings of behaviour to design interventions that incorporate fiscal motivations and deterrents as part of their structure (Cooper, 2011). For example, emission trading schemes (ETS), initially envisaged within the Kyoto Protocol, have been separately engineered in different regions of the world (Leining et al., 2020; Skjærseth & Wettestad, 2008; X.-Q. Wang et al., 2022). These policies have had negative consequences in the form of furthering existing inequities between countries (Liverman, 2009), as well as issues in quantifying their additionality as compared to a business-as-usual scenario (Teixidó et al., 2019; Verde, 2020). Furthermore, ETS are necessarily targeted at the social actors who participate in the engineered markets, rendering such policies ineffective for directly targeting the 65% of global GHG emissions embodied in individual/household behaviours.</p><p>The research in this PhD steps away from economic understandings of (environmental) behaviour, to explore the utility of other conceptualizations of human action. The work done here examines theories from environmental psychology and behavioural economics, to explore how psychological phenomena such as attitudes, and binds on rationality such as the recruitment of heuristics, direct decision making in relation to environmental issues. By examining alternative drivers of behaviour, it is hoped that different environmental policies directly targeting behaviour within households could be designed in the future.</p><p>Prior to the work undertaken here, the multitude of hypothesised determinates of environmental behaviour precluded the effective integration of alternative perspectives from environmental psychology and behavioural economics into policy discourses. As Shove (2010, pp. 1275) pointed put there was no ‘obvious limit to the number of possible determinants and no method of establishing their…precise role in promoting or preventing different behaviours’. Through the course of this research, multiple models of human behaviour from within and between the disciplines of environmental psychology and behavioural economics have been interrogated. These models have been examined in relation to both self-reported and observed measures of individuals’ environmental action, in an effort to delimit the critical determinates of pro-environmental behaviour - and curtail the number of possible pre-cursors lamented by Shove.</p><p>The first set of studies undertaken as part of this doctoral research focused on models of behaviour from environmental psychology. The numeracy of the models recruited within environmental psychology to explain behaviour ensured there existed considerable redundancy between these concerning the variables they incorporated into their structures. For example, biospheric values are cited in the norm activation model (Schwartz, 1977), value belief norm theory (Stern, 2000), and recent models concerning an individual’s connection to nature (Martin & Czellar, 2017). Work was initially undertaken to create a database documenting solely the variables from within these models. This was done for clarity, and to eliminate the aforementioned redundancy. Individual meta-analyses were run for each of the psychological variables to generate an effect size estimate for each. Effects size estimates were then compared between the psychological variables, to determine which of these correlated most strongly with pro-environmental actions and intentions. The five key variables with the largest (lower-bound) effect size estimates for both pro-environmental intentions and behaviour were revealed to be: attitudes, perceived behavioural control, injunctive norms, descriptive norms, and personal moral norms. Following the meta-analyses, an online study was run to investigate whether participants’ reported: attitudes, perceived behavioural control, injunctive norms, descriptive norms, and personal moral norms, were related to an observed (as opposed to a self-reported) measure of pro-environmental action. This was done to determine whether the results obtained in the meta-analyses were robust when participants could not simply report their own actions. In the online study, participants were asked how much (real) money they would like to donate to an environmental charity (the ‘Clean Air Task Force’), to observed directly whether they behaved in alignment with their proclaimed environmental beliefs, attitudes and norms. Regression analyses and structural equation modelling revealed that personal moral norms were the most critical antecedent to the observed measure of pro-environmental behaviour, with attitudes and injunctive norms also demonstrating strong relationships with monetary donations. Perceived behavioural control and descriptive norms did not demonstrate a significant direct association with participants’ charitable donation behaviours.</p><p>In a final online experiment, insights regarding human behaviour from behavioural economics were introduced. The experiment took place over two time points. At the first point in time, the three psychological variables that previously exhibited significant direct relationships with participants’ observed monetary donations (attitudes, injunctive norms and personal norms), were elicited from participants’, and their influence over behaviour was assessed in comparison with the effects of a social norms nudge. This investigation was undertaken to evaluate whether critical ingrained psychological variables (attitudes, injunctive norms and personal norms) were associated with environmental behaviour to a lesser or greater extent than an applied nudge, which manipulated the salient social norm and thus operated through the activation of a simple imitation heuristic within participants. At the second point in time the longevity of the effect of the social norms manipulation was investigated. This was done by comparing the subsequent behaviour of participants who were, and were not, exposed to the social norm nudge in part one. At time two, behaviour was evaluated in relation to the same action as before, and also in relation to a second action from a different domain of environmental behaviour. Discrepancies between participants’ who had, or had no prior exposure to the social norms manipulation at time one, were used to comment on the temporal and behavioural spillover effects of the social norms manipulation. At the first point in time, only the three psychological variables (attitudes, injunctive norms and personal norms) exhibited a significant association with the observed environmental behaviour. No effect over behaviour of the social norms nudge was observed at time one. The lack of significant influence demonstrated by the social norms nudge at time one, portended the lack of spillover effects detected for the nudge at time two. This research demonstrated the central importance of personal moral norms, attitudes, and injunctive norms for determining individuals’ substantive pro-environmental behaviours. This thesis advanced previous work by (i) using meta-analyses to summarise and compare the relationships between numerous heterogeneous psychological determinates of pro-environmental action, and self-reported environmental intentions and behaviours; (ii) advancing theory by using structural equation modelling to demonstrated that personal moral norms were more closely affiliated with an observed measure of environmental behaviour than other variables such as attitudes; and (iii) revealing the critical determinates of pro-environmental action in order to design appropriately targeted behaviour change intervention policies: the variables that most closely correlated with observed pro-environmental acts were not nudge interventions, but instead individuals internalised moral norms and attitudes. The results of this work are necessarily limited to some extent by the methodological decisions made in service of achieving the ambitions of this doctoral research. The chosen observed behaviour (charitable giving), the selected nudge (provision of information concerning a social norm), and the techniques used to elicit participant responses (online questionnaire), all represent valid techniques and constraints on the broader applicability of my findings. These should be taken into consideration when extrapolating any results of this work to alternative scenarios.</p>

Environmental behavior in a private-sphere context: Integrating theories of planned behavior and value belief norm, self-identity and habit

The deployment of autonomous delivery vehicles (ADVs) is undergoing unprecedented expansion in China, fueled by escalating investments from online retail and logistics enterprises. Despite the multifacted benefits of ADVs, i.e. enhanced delivery efficiency, cost savings, and environmental sustainability, academic inquiry into consumes' intention to utilize such innovative technologies remains relatively scarce. To address this research gap, the study enhances and extends the Normative Activation Model (NAM) by integrating two critical constructs: perceived behavioral control (PBC) and perceived risk (PR). Using a structural equation model (SEM), we empirically analyze survey data collected from 354 online consumers via Wenjuanxing, a reputable online sampling platform. The results reveal that personal norms (PN) and PBC significantly affect consumers' intentions to adopt ADVs, while the impact of PR is statistically non-significant. Furthermore, ascription of responsibility (AR) partially mediates in the relationships between awareness of consequences (AC) and PN, and PN serves as a partial mediator in the relationships linking AC, AR, PBC and behavioral intention. These findings provide valuable theoretical and practical insights for logistics service providers - guiding the optimization of ADVs service design and risk mitigation strategies - and relevant government departments - informing the formulation of supportive policies for ADVs deployment and consumer protection regulations.

Does haze pollution promote the consumption of energy-saving appliances in China? An empirical study based on norm activation model

Investigating Orchard Men's Behavioral Intentions of Dashtestan County toward Water Conservation Using Stern Value-Belief-Norm Theory

BackgroundTeachers’ verbal immediacy behaviors play a important role in enhancing student engagement, motivation, and emotional security. However, as the role of smart classrooms in education becomes increasingly prominent, research on the formation mechanisms of teachers’ verbal immediacy behaviors in smart classroom environments remains relatively limited. Especially, at the primary grades, research on teachers’ verbal immediacy behaviors has not yet garnered sufficient attention.MethodsThis study integrates the theory of planned behavior (TPB) with the norm activation model (NAM) to propose a theoretical model for teachers’ verbal immediacy behaviors in smart classroom environments. Using purposive sampling based on specific criteria, 855 Chinese primary school teachers with extensive experience in smart classroom instruction were selected as participants. Data were collected through a structured questionnaire survey and analyzed employing structural equation modeling (SEM) to test the hypotheses empirically.ResultsThis study finds that teachers’ verbal immediacy behavioral attitude, perceived behavior control (PBC), personal norms (PC) and subjective norms (SN) have significant positive effects on teachers’ verbal immediacy behavioral intention. Awareness of consequences (AC) had significant positive effects on ascription of responsibility (AR), teachers’ verbal immediacy behavioral attitude. In addition, Smart classroom environments have a moderating effect on the relationship between the teachers’ verbal immediacy intention and their verbal immediacy behaviors.ConclusionThis study integrates the TPB and the NAM to explore the formation mechanisms of teachers’ verbal immediacy behaviors in smart classroom environments, revealing the positive influence of smart classroom environments on these behaviors.ImplicationsThe findings provide a theoretical foundation for understanding primary school teachers’ verbal behaviors in smart classrooms and offer valuable insights for optimizing the design of smart classrooms and enhancing teaching effectiveness in educational practice.

Balancing awareness and responsibility: Cognitive mechanisms shaping electric vehicle purchase intentions

Integration of extended theory of planned behaviour (TPB) and norm activation model (NAM) was applied to examine psychological mechanism of single-use plastic reduction intention (SUPRI) of citizens in Danang city, Vietnam. The partial least squares structural equation modelling algorithms were applied to assess measurement model, structural model, explanatory power, and predictive power of model. Personal norm, attitude, subjective norm, perceived behaviour control, and policy intervention had significant influence on SUPRI. Attitude was the most important factor affecting SUPRI. Regarding integrated model, awareness of consequence and ascription of responsibility were positively associated with attitude toward SUPRI while subjective norm had significant relationship toward personal norm. Association of policy intervention toward SUPRI was confirmed through direct and indirect relationships. Integration of TPB and NAM was effective in explaining SUPRI. Planning and strategy for single-use plastic reduction should be designed to comprehensively cover human self-interests, take advantage of social moral values, and promote policy enactment and enforcement with prioritisation of action on raising citizens’ attitude toward single-use plastic reduction. Utilisation of geographic information system and remote sensing was effective in supporting random sampling. This study offered practical and scientific base for planners and policymakers in combating environmental issues from plastic waste.

Vietnam’s tourism sector has experienced rapid expansion, yielding significant economic gains, but also escalating environmental and socio-cultural challenges. This necessitates a shift toward sustainable tourism practices. This study develops and tests an integrative model combining the Theory of Planned Behavior (TPB) and Value–Belief–Norm (VBN) theory to investigate the Sustainable Consumption Behavior (SCB) of domestic travelers in Vietnam. Grounded in the country’s collectivist culture—characterized by a strong emphasis on communal values and social harmony—the research examines how rational decision-making and normative pressures jointly drive eco-friendly travel behaviors. Data were collected from 549 Vietnamese tourists through stratified sampling across three major regions, and were analyzed through a robust multi-step methodology, including Exploratory Factor Analysis, Confirmatory Factor Analysis, and structural equation modeling (SEM), supplemented by regression analysis. The SEM results indicate that the proposed model accounts for 60.8% of the variance in SCB, underscoring its explanatory power. Within the TPB framework, Attitude, Subjective Norms, and Perceived Behavioral Control significantly predict Behavioral Intention, which, in turn, mediates their influence on SCB. In the VBN component, Environmental Awareness shapes Altruistic and Biospheric Values, fostering the New Environmental Paradigm and activating Personal Norms, which exert a direct effect on SCB. This direct influence of Personal Norms, bypassing Behavioral Intention, highlights the role of implicit moral obligations in Vietnam’s collectivist cultural context and challenges Western-centric behavioral models. Beyond these frameworks, Destination Attributes and Consumer Innovativeness emerge as critical direct predictors of SCB, with Destination Attributes showing the strongest effect. Mediation analyses confirm Behavioral Intention’s central role, while moderation tests reveal that gender and travel experience modulate TPB-based relationships, suggesting the value of targeted interventions. Theoretically, this study advances TPB–VBN integration by applying it to a collectivist setting, revealing how cultural norms amplify normative influences on sustainable behavior. Practically, it advocates for strategies such as community-driven initiatives leveraging Personal Norms, educational campaigns to enhance Perceived Behavioral Control, and sustainable destination management initiatives in locations like Da Nang and Ha Long Bay. While the cross-sectional design limits causal claims, the findings provide a foundation for future longitudinal studies and cross-cultural comparisons, particularly in other collectivist societies, potentially incorporating digital engagement and policy incentives as novel factors.

Contemporary digital technologies have become key instruments in enhancing the security and sustainability of tourist destinations. This study explores the role of digital solutions such as smart surveillance systems, mobile applications, artificial intelligence, and the Internet of Things (IoT) in strengthening tourist safety and supporting long-term sustainable development. The theoretical framework is based on the Norm Activation Model (NAM), employing the constructs of Awareness of Consequences, Ascription of Responsibility, Personal Norms, and Behavioral Intention, expanded by the construct of Sustainability Outcomes. This research was conducted as a comparative case study of Almaty (Kazakhstan) and Belgrade (Serbia), using a structured questionnaire and quantitative analysis. The findings indicate that tourists’ perceptions of security, mediated by digital technologies, significantly shape their behavioural intentions and contribute to sustainable destination outcomes. The study provides theoretical implications for the advancement of the NAM in tourism, as well as practical guidelines for destination managers in developing a safe and sustainable environment.

Explaining littering prevention among park visitors using the Theory of Planned Behavior and Norm Activation Model

The success of trash bank program to reduce negative impact of waste determined by community participation. Personal norm activation plays an important role for stimulating individual motivation to engage on trash bank program. The purpose of study is to examine antecedents and consequences of personal norms in pro environmental behavior context. Research location in Banyumas regency area. Data mining are done through surveys by purposive sampling technique. The respondents are trash bank’s customers. Data were analyzed using structural equation modeling (SEM). The results showed that ascription of responsibility, subjective norm, and ability significantly effect on activation process of personal norms. Furthermore, personal norms and ability significantly positive effect on community participation on trash bank

As consumers increasingly access takeaway food from restaurants, the importance of reducing the use of single-use plastic has emerged. To investigate this complex process, the current study applies the Theory of Planned Behavior (TPB) and the Norm Activation Model (NAM) to discover how this theory and model leads to discovering customers’ behavioral intentions. Data were collected from 436 respondents and reflect people aged 18 years or older who accessed an online food ordering platform within the three months prior to the study data collection. Results present that customers’ attitudes, subjective norms, perceived behavioral control, awareness of consequences, and personal norms regarding reducing single-use plastic utensils influence consumers’ behavioral intentions. These findings are meaningful to academia in providing insights into the link between consumers’ behavior and reducing the use of single-use plastic utensils in the restaurant context. In addition, this study provides marketing strategies and implications for improving consumers’ awareness of the use of single-use plastic utensils in retail food services.