Influence of institutional perception factors on household waste separation behaviour: evidence from Ganzhou, China

The effectiveness of the household waste separation institution depends on the residents’ institutional trust. Therefore, understanding the key factors affecting residents’ institutional trust is crucial for establishing an influential waste separation institution. Using social information processing (SIP) theory, we studied the impact of the institutional perception factors of the front-end separation (supervision measures, SM; convenience of separation facilities, CSF) and the mid-end collection and transportation (normalization of waste transportation, NWT; timeliness of waste collection and transportation, TWCT) on the household waste separation behaviour and the mediating effect of institutional trust in it. The results show that SM, CSF, NWT, and TWCT directly impact household waste separation behaviour and affect it through institutional trust. Besides, we explored the relationship between publicity and education and household waste separation behaviour. Publicity and education positively impact household waste separation behaviour and moderate the relationship between institutional trust and household waste separation behaviour.