Exploring the Effect of Individual and Group Level Factors on the Level of Rural Residents' Domestic Waste Sorting: Evidence from Shaanxi, China.

Rural residents are the main agents of rural domestic waste-sorting; their level of sorting directly relates to the improvement of their rural living environment and the construction of "beautiful countryside". Considering the data of 943 rural residents in Shaanxi Province, China, this study incorporates the factors at the individual and group levels and explores how personal norms and mianzi, which is the individual's reputation and social status, at the individual level and social capital at the group level impact the level of rural residents' domestic waste-sorting through an Ordered Probit model. The results show that personal norms and mianzi at the individual level play an important role in improving the level of rural residents' domestic waste-sorting. Meanwhile, social capital (i.e., social networking, social trust, social participation, and social norms) at the group level has significant positive impacts on the level of rural residents' domestic waste-sorting. Furthermore, mianzi plays a moderating role between personal norms, social capital, and the level of rural residents' domestic waste-sorting, respectively. These findings are useful for the Chinese government to formulate a policy about enhancing the level of rural residents' domestic waste-sorting to ease the rural environmental problem.

Understanding the key factors determining rural domestic waste treatment behavior in China: a meta-analysis.

The growing interest of policy-makers, environmental stakeholders, and academics in rural domestic waste treatment has made it a recent focus of research in the field of rural human settlements. Many studies have been conducted to understand the related factors; however, their results are inconsistent. Therefore, different from previous studies, the study systematically analyzed and summarized empirical studies on rural domestic waste treatment and explored the key factors that fostered and impeded it. It also examined the reasons for differences in research level and trends in key factors over time. A random-effects meta-analysis of 24 studies revealed that education, political status, perceived value, behavioral attitude, subjective norm, garbage collection facilities and services, environmental knowledge and propaganda, and government policy and regulation had a significant positive correlation with rural domestic waste treatment; perceived value had the highest impact, followed by behavioral attitude. All of the variables had significant heterogeneity. Some of the heterogeneity can be explained by differences in research methods, sample size, and variable measurement methods. An increasing trend was observed in the effects of perceived value, behavioral attitude, and subjective norm. Finally, based on these results, the study provided suggestions on policy and academic aspects.