Zero Waste Management Behavior: Conceptualization, Scale Development and Validation—A Case Study in Turkey

Abstract

Due to increasing demand on earth sources in all areas, some materials have come under pressure for effective recovery and reuse. In this sense, the management of waste materials has become an important need for effective utilizations. In this regard, the waste management behaviour of individuals towards zero waste was studied using a scale and included pre-testing and administering a survey, and reducing the number of items with the determination of factors. The scale was evaluated using all necessary statistical measures. The IBM SPSS and IBM SPPS AMOS were utilized for confirmatory and expository factor analyses, respectively. It was found that the Cronbach’s alpha coefficient determined the reliability level of the improved scale, at 0.909, while the Kaiser–Meyer–Olkin coefficient was determined as 0.887. The Bartlett’s sphericity test result was found to be p < 0.000. The test results clearly indicated that the sample size was adequate for the measurement of the construct and a patterned relationship among the items was detected. However, the reliability and validity of the developed scaled were confirmed by the goodness of fit indices used. It is important to note that education, profession, level of income, and place of residence significantly influenced the participants’ zero waste management behaviour, but the gender and age of the participants were not influential factors. By having these experimental results, it is suitable to suggest that a model consisting of three factors (knowledge, facilities, and motivation) was capable of measuring the waste management behaviour of people towards zero waste in Turkey.