Factors Influencing Individual Recycling Behavior in Office Settings

Abstract

This study explores office recycling behavior and its antecedents through a survey administered to 1,788 workers in Taipei, Taiwan. The instrument measured household and office recycling behavior, commitment to and motives for recycling, and the convenience of carrying out recycling in their office settings. Prior experience was shown to be an excellent predictor of office-based conservation behavior. However, to be effective, prior experience must be of the same specificity as the office behavior being predicted. Thus prior experience with general household recycling was effective at predicting general office recycling behavior, but was unable to predict more specific recycling behavior. Likewise, prior experience with a particular material—In this instance paper—predicted office conservation behavior with respect to that material alone. Organizational commitment and individual commitment were found to be modest predictors of office-based conservation behavior, although economic motivation was not found to be a particularly effective predictor of such behavior. Implications for office-based recycling programs are discussed.