School of Health and Life Sciences, Teesside University, Middlesbrough, TS1 3BX, UK.
Department of Environmental Science, Faculty of Science, Chulalongkorn University, Bangkok, 10330, Thailand.
Sci Rep. 2024 Feb 27;14(1):4713. doi: 10.1038/s41598-024-55192-5.
The study investigates residents' behavior towards reducing the use of single-use plastic (SUP), specifically in the context of food packaging. The widespread view holds that pro-environmental behavior (PB) results from a person's moral and rational deliberations. In reducing single-use plastic (SUP) consumption and waste, the relative roles of rationality and morality models in validating PB among rural and urban residents are not yet clear. In this empirical study, we compared the relative efficacy of two models for explaining people's SUP reduction behavior: the theory of planned behavior (TPB; rationality) and the value belief norm (VBN; morality). We investigated Thailand's rural (Sichang Island) and metropolitan (Nonthaburi city) areas. As a result, we surveyed people living on Sichang Island (n = 255) and in Nonthaburi city (n = 310). We employed structural equation modeling (SEM) for data analysis in this study. Findings showed that while morality better justified all the study participants' SUP reduction behavior, rationality underpinned behaviors of rural residents, while morality better explained the actions of city residents. We discussed future theoretical development and a policy roadmap based on these findings.
本研究调查了居民减少一次性塑料（SUP）使用的行为，特别是在食品包装方面。普遍观点认为，亲环境行为（PB）源于个人的道德和理性思考。在减少一次性塑料（SUP）的消费和浪费方面，农村和城市居民的理性和道德模型在验证 PB 方面的相对作用尚不清楚。在这项实证研究中，我们比较了两种模型在解释人们减少 SUP 行为方面的相对效力：计划行为理论（TPB；理性）和价值信仰规范（VBN；道德）。我们调查了泰国的农村（锡昌岛）和城市（暖武里府）地区。结果，我们对锡昌岛上的居民（n=255）和暖武里府的居民（n=310）进行了调查。本研究采用结构方程模型（SEM）进行数据分析。研究结果表明，虽然道德更能证明所有研究参与者减少 SUP 的行为，但理性支撑了农村居民的行为，而道德则更好地解释了城市居民的行为。我们根据这些发现讨论了未来的理论发展和政策路线图。
