Psychological driving forces behind households’ behaviors toward municipal organic waste separation at source in Vietnam: a structural equation modeling approach

Most recent municipal organic waste-separation at source (MOW-SAS) programs that have been introduced in developing countries remain pilot programs, but have not fully developed into sustainable municipal solid-waste management strategies. The city of Hoi An, Vietnam, implemented a mandatory MOW-SAS program in 2012. Using Structural Equation Modeling, this study investigates the psychological driving forces behind households’ behaviors toward the MOW-SAS program. This study finds that moral norm (moral perception of what is good or bad), attitude toward sorted waste, and situational factors (issues concerning physically sorting garbage, such as time, space, and lack of family cooperation) can significantly affect household behaviors toward MOW-SAS. It confirms the need for supplying frequent environmental educational campaigns and highlighting the benefits of MOW-SAS programs. Moreover, the study finds that households’ system trust in local authority concerning the MOW-SAS program is an important driving force behind the behavior. Therefore, recommendation is also made on the need to develop strong leadership in local authorities through improving: (1) reliability (ability to effectively treat sorted waste), (2) legitimacy (punitive measures for non-participants), and (3) effectiveness (dissemination of information about the benefits of MOW-SAS programs) for promoting MOW-SAS.