EURO 2024 Copenhagen
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531. An agent-based approach to exploring consumer behavior and the effectiveness of persuasion strategies in waste separation and recycling in China

Invited abstract in session WB-23: Recycling, stream Circular Economy, Remanufacturing and Recycling .

Wednesday, 10:30-12:00
Room: 82 (building: 116)

Authors (first author is the speaker)

1. Yan Xu
School of Management, Northwestern Polytechnical University
2. Xinzhu Wu

Abstract

Consumer behavior in terms of waste separation and recycling (WSR) is extremely important to achieve the goal of “zero-waste city” and circular economy. However, there is a discrepancy between consumers’ willingness to participate in waste separation and their actual behavior in China. The government's persuasion strategies have limited impact on changing WSR behavior. We argue that the strategies need to collectively change WSR behavior through their influence on the motivation and ability (M/A) of all consumers to achieve extensive public participation. Therefore, we propose a novel agent-based approach that integrates a psychological behavioral model and a simulation model to analyze WSR behavior and the effectiveness of persuasion strategies. A behavioral model based on the Fogg behavioral model is developed to investigate the M/A elements that influence WSR behavior. A multi-agent model is developed to analyze WSR behavior by considering the interactions between individual consumers and the environmental and peer pressures. By simulating the changes in WSR behavior under different strategy implementation scenarios, we find that consumers’ M/A are constantly changing due to their interactivity, and the public participation rate is significantly higher when diverse strategies are implemented that encompass all M/A elements. Our proposed approach and empirical results contribute to the research and implementation of waste management and low-carbon consumer behavior.

Keywords

Status: accepted

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