Communicating norms to increase food delivery customers’ sustainable waste management behaviors

Abstract

This study examines the influences of norms on food delivery customers’ pro-environmental behavioral intentions, which ultimately affect sustainable waste management behaviors (SWMBs). First explored were the effects of several types of norms, including personal and social norms (i.e., injunctive and descriptive norms), on intentions to perform SWMBs. Second were how personal norms mediate the effect of social norms on behavioral intentions and, lastly, the effect of behavioral intentions on food delivery customers’ SWMBs. A questionnaire was conducted with 601 customers of food deliver platforms in Bangkok, Thailand from the beginning of September to mid-October 2022. Path analysis was conducted to test how several types of norms affect intentions to perform SWMBs and how those intentions lead to SWMB performance. The results revealed that when the three types of norms were included in the analysis, personal norms had the greatest impact on behavioral intentions, whereas injunctive social norms had no significant direct impact. Personal norms also significantly mediated the effect of both descriptive and injunctive social norms on intentions, and intentions had a significant effect on SWMB performance among food delivery customers. However, the indirect impact of descriptive social norms on the intentions via personal norms was much weaker than that of injunctive social norms. This study implies that each type of norm has different ways to influence food delivery customers’ participation in SWMBs. To fully utilize advantages of norms in promoting SWMBs, communicating both social norms and personal norms could be very influential.