Enhancing Vietnamese students' intentions to participate in municipal solid waste classification and instruct others on sorting practices

Municipal solid waste (MSW) disposal in developing countries remains a critical challenge, constrained by inadequate waste management systems and insufficient financial investment, and reliant to a large extent on active public participation for improvement. Despite growing global attention to sustainable waste management, limited research has examined the psychological and contextual factors shaping individuals’ MSW sorting behaviors in developing contexts. This study investigates the antecedents of both classification intention and instruction intention toward MSW sorting among Vietnamese students, who serve as change agents and pioneers within the educational sectors, where institutions are actively developing conditions to support MSW classification. Drawing on the Theory of Planned Behavior (TPB), the research identifies key drivers including environmental concerns, self-efficacy, subjective norms, government publicity, facilitating conditions, attitude, and perceived environmental responsibility. Data were collected via a structured questionnaire survey with 433 valid responses and analyzed by AMOS version 22. The findings reveal that classification intention is driven by both students’ attitude toward MSW classification (β = 0.252) and perceived environmental responsibility (β = 0.14), while instruction intention is primarily influenced by perceived environmental responsibility (β = 0.368). Additionally, attitude is most strongly shaped by self-efficacy, whereas perceived environmental responsibility is significantly driven by environmental concerns. These insights underscore the instrumental role of the student segment in advancing voluntary MSW policies in Vietnam. The study offers valuable theoretical contributions by clarifying the motivational pathways for classification and instruction intentions and provides practical implications for policymakers and educational administrators aiming to enhance MSW management practices.