The Quantitative Analysis of Recycling Behavior Based on Rational Choice Theory

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Why do some people do not carry out recycling behavior regardless of their pro-environmental attitude? This is the question we have investigated in this research. Based on rational choice theory, we have presented some hypothetical mechanisms for non-recyclers to justify their own anti-environmental behavior.Then, these hypotheses, together with others on recycling attitude and behavior, were empirically tested. We have conducted questionnaire survey in Sendai City, Miyagi Prefecture and get the response from 1026 randomly selected sample of citizens who usually do household duties : the response rate was 85.5%.Examining justification strategies originally proposed by Diekmann and Preisendofer, we have pointed out the ambiguity of three justification strategies and clarified the notion of each strategies and the relations among them. Then, these theoretical endeavor were put into empirical research. What we have found were as follows : In terms of factor analysis, we found two components of recycling behavior : low-cost recycling and high-cost recycling. We also found the reasons why they do not make recycles and the factors which influence to each of the reasons.We have also examined the mechanism how the recycling behavior of focal person is affected by the form of utility function and the perceived ratio of recyclers. The influence of regional mobility was also examined to find the latent effect of educational career.