Acceptance of E-waste Recycling Among Young Adults: An Empirical Study

Abstract

This paper integrates habits into the Theory of Planned Behavior and the Technology Acceptance Model to predict waste electrical and electronic equipment (WEEE) or the e-waste recycling intention among young adults. This study adopts the structural equation modelling (SEM) technique, using the partial least squares (PLS) approach as a multivariate statistical method to analyze the survey data. The findings show that the integrated model has good explanatory power and confirms its robustness in predicting the e-waste recycling intention among young adults. The role of habits and perceived usefulness are demonstrated as strong predictors of young adults' e-waste recycling intention, as well as their attitudes. The paper concludes with several social and practical implications that can foster e-waste recycling initiatives in the UAE.