What drives recycling behavior? The role of social trust, perceived risk, and self-efficacy

The antecedents of the ecological recycling behavior (ERB) have been intensively studied in previous research, yet there is still a lack of knowledge on several ERB-related topics. The current study aims to contribute to the scientific understanding of those under-studied factors, and their relationships as well. The influence of social trust toward institutions and fellow citizens was estimated. The effect of risk perception was also assessed, distinguishing the perceived risks for three target—self, environment, economy—and estimating whether it impacts on ERB. In addition, the role of subjective knowledge, information seeking and coping self-efficacy was explored. The study was carried out in a social context characterized by a serious waste crisis. Results show that perceived risk for the self is the main antecedent of ERB. Environmental risk perception, self-efficacy, distrust toward politics, and information seeking also influence that environmental responsible behaviour. In addition, the effect of perceived risk for the self is qualified by its interaction with participants’ self-efficacy: for participants with low efficacy, self-risk perception exerts a negative effect on ERB, whereas in the high efficacy condition, the higher the self-risk perception, the higher the ERB. Results and limitation of the study, together with practical recommendation which emerged from the empirical evidences, are discussed in the paper.