Recycling: Social norms and warm-glow revisited

Abbott, Andrew; Nandeibam, Shasikanta; O'Shea, Lucy

Abstract

We examine the role of social norms and warm-glow in a theoretical framework and establish that improving the quality of recycling facilities, for example through kerbside collection, will elicit more recycling effort if warm-glow is present. Drawing on the literature, we model the role of social norms with reference to age profile, ethnicity and geographical location of the reference group. Using English local authority data, we show that a social norm for recycling does exist. We find the expected relationship between the quality of kerbside provision and recycling activity, if the household derives warm-glow from the activity; however, it is insignificant. Amongst the control variables, we find evidence that multifamily dwellings recycle less.

Citation

Abbott, A., Nandeibam, S., & O'Shea, L. (2013). Recycling: Social norms and warm-glow revisited. Ecological economics : the journal of the International Society for Ecological Economics, 90, 10-18. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ecolecon.2013.02.015

• Journal Article Type: Article
• Acceptance Date: Feb 24, 2013
• Online Publication Date: Mar 27, 2013
• Publication Date: 2013-06
• Deposit Date: Apr 2, 2019
• Publicly Available Date: Apr 2, 2019
• Journal: Ecological Economics
• Print ISSN: 0921-8009
• Publisher: Elsevier
• Peer Reviewed: Peer Reviewed
• Volume: 90
• Pages: 10-18
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ecolecon.2013.02.015
• Keywords: Intrinsic motives; Recycling; Social norms; Warm-glow
• Public URL: https://hull-repository.worktribe.com/output/1528364
• Publisher URL: https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0921800913000761?via%3Dihub
• Additional Information: This article is maintained by: Elsevier; Article Title: Recycling: Social norms and warm-glow revisited; Journal Title: Ecological Economics; CrossRef DOI link to publisher maintained version: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ecolecon.2013.02.015; Content Type: article; Copyright: Copyright © 2013 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.
• Contract Date: Apr 2, 2019