The Potential Determinants for Smartphone Recycling Behaviour Sustainability in UAE

Repeated actions and behaviours are characteristic of people's daily lives. However, there is a dilemma when this repeated action is associated with mobile phone recycling since convincing mobile users to recycle sustainably is challenging. This study analysed the four factors (i.e., actual knowledge, salience, environmental constraints, and habits) adopted from the Integrated Behavioural Model (IBM) theory and examined their impact on behavioural sustainability. A partial least squares structural equation modelling (PLS-SEM) approach was applied to evaluate 601 responses from a self-administered online survey collected from mobile user participants based in the United Arab Emirates (UAE). The survey findings indicated that habit has the strongest and statistically significant positive influence on behaviour; followed by knowledge and skills. Additionally, the salience of behaviour has a considerably negative influence on behaviour sustainability unaffected by environmental constraints. This study serves as a springboard for future research examining the IBM model to understand recycling behaviour in general and smartphone recycling sustainability in particular. Additionally, this research can assist smartphone manufacturers in understanding the factors that will maintain the recycling behaviour continuity, increasing the number of returned devices.

Automated summary

This study analyzed the factors influencing the sustainability of mobile phone recycling behavior and found that habit has the strongest positive impact on behavior, while salience has a negative impact. Environmental constraints have no significant influence on behavior.