The role of descriptive social norms, organisational norms and personal norms in explaining solid waste management behaviours in workplaces

Waste management behaviours (WMBs) play an important role in minimising metropolitan solid waste generation and reducing the environmental impacts caused by waste disposal. The purpose of this paper is to investigate the role of social norms, organisational norms and personal norms in explaining individuals’ engagement in WMBs, which include waste avoidance, green purchasing, reusing and recycling and waste disposal.

The metropolitan city of Bangkok, Thailand was selected as a case study – it faces waste management problems caused by a massive increase in waste over the past decade. This study distributed questionnaires to 193 public and private officers residing in the city of Bangkok. Path analyses and a multiple regression analysis were performed to test the effect of each norm and the association of various norms on individuals’ engagement in WMBs.

The results revealed that organisational norms had the strongest effect (both direct and indirect) on WMBs. Personal norms also had a direct effect on WMBs. In contrast, social norms did not directly influence WMBs; however, they did have an indirect effect on WMBs through organisational norms.

This study suggests that the role of organisational norms should be heavily emphasised in promoting the WMBs of public and private officers.

This study found that the role of organisational norms is the most significant factor influencing WMBs in workplaces. In addition, both provincial and subjective environmental norms in organisations significantly affect WMBs. They should be enhanced in order to promote WMBs in organisations.