The role of digitization: an empirical study on the prediction and impact of changes in waste separation behavior in...

Digitalization has subtly affected all aspects of people's lives, including waste separation. This study explores how the role of digitization affects the behavior of mass waste separation, establishes the behavioral role of waste separation in the context of digitization through the theory of planned behavior, further subdivides the role of digitization into digitization practices and digitization quality, and constructs a research model of digitization's impact on mass waste separation behavior. Structural equation modeling was used to analyze the data and fit the model to the questionnaires of the 611 respondents. The results show that digital practice and digital quality have a positive and significant relationship with waste behavioral intention. In contrast, digital practice has a considerable mediating and chain-mediating effect on the relationship between digital quality and waste separation behavioral intention. These findings provide good theoretical support for the role of digitization in mass waste separation and practical guidance for developing waste separation in the context of digitization.