Determinants of Consumers’ Sustainable Disposal Behavior of Clothing Items

This study investigated environmentally sustainable clothing disposal behavior, addressing a critical gap in existing research by simultaneously considering internal factors (e.g., attitudes, habits) and external contextual factors (e.g., convenience). Grounded in Triandis's Theory of Interpersonal Behavior (TIB), the research explored three key determinants: sustainable disposal intention, recycling habits, and perceived convenience. The study, based on a national sample of 304 U.S. participants, employedregression analysis to test seven hypotheses. Findings indicate that environmental attitude and affect positively influence sustainable disposal intention, supporting H1 and H3. However, perceived social pressure did not significantly impact intention (H2). Sustainable disposal intention and recycling habits positively affect environmentally sustainable clothing disposal behavior (H4 and H5), while perceived convenience had a significant main effect on behavior (H6). Surprisingly, perceived convenience did not moderate the relationship between intention and behavior (H7). These results highlight the nuanced interplay of internal and external factors in shaping sustainable clothing disposal behavior, emphasizing the need for a holistic approach in future predictive models.