An Empirical Study on the Adoption of Online Household e-waste Collection Services in China

Abstract

Online household e-waste collection services are emerging as new solutions to disposing household e-waste in China. This study aims to investigate the adoption of online household e-waste collection services in China. Based on the previous technology diffusion theories (e.g., TAM, UTAUT), a research model with six research hypotheses was proposed in this research. The research model was empirically tested with a sample of 203 users of online household e-waste collection services in China. The results indicated that five of the six research hypotheses were significantly supported. And the most significant determinant for the behavioral intention to use online household e-waste service was effort expectancy. However, facilitating condition did not have significant impact on users' behavior of using online household e-waste collection services.

The adoption of online e-waste collection platform to improve environmental sustainability: an empirical study of Chinese millennials

“…SN has a significant influence on the intentions to adopt the online e-waste collection platform. Previous studies also consider SN a significant predictor for technology adoption (Gao et al, 2015;Purani et al, 2019;Taylor and Todd, 1995). This study suggests that the millennials are more likely to adopt the online collection platform if their social groups encourage them to participate in recycling.…”

“…A user-friendly interface of the website and online application plays an important role in consumers' intention of using the online collection services (Zuo et al, 2020). When consumers believe that the online collection platform is easy to use; they will focus on perceived usefulness and eventually lead to more usage in daily life (Gao et al, 2015). It is noted that PEOU has direct and indirect influences on intentions to adopt different online facilities (Agrebi and Jallais, 2015;Taylor and Todd, 1995;Sun and Chi, 2018).…”

“…SN is an influential element for technology adoption because it reduces uncertainties of consumers (Purani et al, 2019). Gao et al (2015) found that the social influence has a strong positive effect on consumers' intentions to use online collection services. The opinions from family and friends can assist to build up individual intentions toward a specific action (Ajzen, 1991;Suki and Suki, 2015).…”

“…Only a few studies investigate the willingness/intentions of consumers to adopt the online e-waste collection platform. For example, Gao et al (2015) applied technology acceptance model (TAM) to study the adoption of online e-waste collection by using Taolv365 service. Zhang et al (2019) proposed an extended theory of planned behavior (TPB) to examine the residents' acceptance of e-commerce in e-waste recycling.…”

An evolutionary approach to the vehicle route planning in e-waste mobile collection on demand

“…Other research by Gao et al (2015) focused on the emerging channel of disposing of e-waste online and the potential attitude of residents regarding using the new online collec- tion method. Creating a new kind of coordination of a reverse supply chain using an online recycling channel was proposed by Feng et al (2017), indicating consumer preference for an online recycling channel.…”