Research on the influence mechanism of residents' waste sorting behavior: based on extended theory of planned behavior

To reduce pollution, realize resources' secondary utilization, and accelerate the realization of sustainable development goals, China places a significant deal of focus on the classification and treatment of waste. China needs the enthusiastic cooperation of the populace if it is to classify waste effectively. The research creatively combines the external factor of classification label with the internal psychological factor to construct the innovative theory of planned behavior (TPB); and study creatively how classification labels affect residents' intention and behavior in small and medium-sized cities, both directly and indirectly. 571 people of Tangshan, China, were the subjects of an investigation into their waste-sorting behavior using the structural equation model (SEM). The results show that classification labels significantly influence residents' intention to classify waste, both directly and indirectly. At the same time, the study confirmed that classification labels can affect residents' waste classification behavior through multiple paths positively. Specifically, the path coefficients of the influence of attitude, subjective norm, and perceived behavior control on residents' behavior intention were 0.233, 0.225, and 0.356, respectively. The path coefficients of perceived behavior control, and behavior intention were 0.590 and 0.247, respectively. The path coefficients of category labels on attitude, subjective norm, perceived behavior control and behavior intention were 0.379, 0.468, 0.617, and 0.234, respectively. All hypotheses in this study are valid, indicating that the extended theoretical framework of planned behavior is suitable for the study of resident behavior.