Linking determinants of the youth’s intentions to dispose of portable e-waste with the proper disposal behavior in Malaysia

ABSTRACT

The study has aimed to identify the determinants that influence the youth’s intentions to dispose of portable e-waste, which affects their behaviors towards proper disposal. By utilizing the foundation of the Theory of Planned Behavior, this study has proposed that perceived policy effectiveness, perceived benefits, perceived norms and perceived convenience would have significant influence on the intentions of the youth to dispose of their portable e-waste and, eventually, lead to the proper disposal behavior. A total of 400 questionnaires were distributed among the youth in the Federal Territory of Putrajaya, Malaysia based on the convenience sampling method. One hundred and ten usable surveys had been received for further analysis. The outcome of this study revealed that perceived convenience and perceived policy effectiveness were proven to have significant positive influence on the intention to dispose of portable e-waste. The results of the study also signified that the intention to dispose of portable e-waste also affected the youth’s proper disposal behavior. Future research is suggested to focus on other groups of society to verify the significance of the issue as well as help the authorities in designing the strategies for effective awareness programs for each focus group in the country.

KEYWORDS:

• Perceived policy effectiveness
• Perceived benefits
• Perceived norms
• Perceived convenience
• Proper disposal

Highlights

• Focused on the determinants of youth’s e-waste disposal behavior.

• Theory of Planned Behavior underpinned the theoretical framework.

• Convenience and policy effectiveness influenced the youth e-waste disposal intention.

• The contradicting youth’s beliefs and norms distracted the youth’s e-waste disposal intention.

• E-waste disposal intention affected the youth’s proper disposal behavior.