Abstract

The World Health Organization estimates that 53.6 million tons of e-waste was created globally in 2019 and that only 17.4% of it was recycled. Researchers have made considerable efforts to identify the reasons for this limited engagement in e-waste recycling, focusing on factors that include environmental awareness, laws and regulations, convenience, monetary rewards, and recycling habits. These studies have provided valuable insights for organizations and governments to better design and implement e-waste promotional efforts, yet recycling participation continues to be limited. Given that the lack of e-waste recycling awareness is a critical inhibitor of individual participation, and current awareness programs rely heavily on promotional messages through flyers, information sheets, web pages, and social media posts, this study focuses on enhancing e-waste recycling awareness by proposing more effective messaging to better persuade individuals to participate in e-waste recycling. In particular, drawing on inoculation theory and regulatory focus theory, and studies on persuasive communication, this study investigates: (1) whether customizing the e-waste recycling campaign message to align with individuals’ regulatory focus can more effectively motivate participation, and (2) whether incorporating an inoculation message, counter-attitudinal persuasive message, to the existing message signifies trust and message diagnosticity, increases information overload, and reduces cognitive fluency, thereby affecting willingness to participate in e-waste recycling. Two controlled experiments to test our hypotheses will be conducted.

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