
An Empirical Study of Public Response to a Waste-to-Energy Plant in China: Effects of Knowledge, Risk, Benefit and Systematic Processing
Xiongwei QUAN, Gaoshan ZUO
Journal of Systems Science and Information ›› 2022, Vol. 10 ›› Issue (1) : 35-50.
An Empirical Study of Public Response to a Waste-to-Energy Plant in China: Effects of Knowledge, Risk, Benefit and Systematic Processing
With the development of urbanization in China, tons of municipal solid waste have been produced and disposed Incineration is the best way to deal with municipal solid waste in China but this practice often is opposed and resisted by the public who live nearby. This study systematically analyzed the risk responses of the public, in particular factors affecting the public's resistant behavior We conducted a survey and collected 376 valid questionnaires which we used for the analysis. We used the structural equation model and path analysis for the examination, and the results showed that risk perception was a critical factor predicting the resistant behavior of the public surrounding the wasteto-energy (WTE) plant. Benefit perception had a negative, but insignificant, impact on the public's resistant behavior. We found a negative correlation between benefit perception and risk perception but the relationship was weakened when we added systematic processing to the path analysis. The impact of system processing on risk perception was greater than that of benefit perception; that is, systematic processing was better in explaining the risk judgment of the public than benefit perception. Problem knowledge was a significant indicator in predicting risk perception and systematic processing and technology knowledge was a significant indicator in predicting risk perception and benefit perception. Systematic processing increased the public's risk judgment to the WTE plant. Finally, we discussed practical implications and limitations.
waste-to-energy plant / knowledge / risk perception / systematic processing / resistant behavior {{custom_keyword}} /
Table 1 Variables and measures included in the questionnaire |
Variables | Items | Measurement | References |
Behavioral Intentions (BI) | BI1 | I will hang the protest banners | |
BI2 | I will participate in a signature campaign against WTE plant | [ | |
BI3 | I will appeal to relevant government departments | ||
BI4 | I will participate in street demonstrations | ||
Risk Perception (RP) | RP1 | The WTE plant will be harmful to the health of people who live nearby | [ |
RP2 | The environment will be polluted by the WTE plant | ||
RP3 | The economy will be influenced by the WTE plant | ||
RP4 | The WTE plant will decline the real estate value | ||
RP5 | The WTE plant will bring inconvenience to the living conditions of the people who locate nearby | ||
Benefit perception (BP) | BP1 | The WTE plant will create more jobs for the people who live nearby | [ |
BP2 | The WTE plant will improve the infrastructure of the local communities | ||
BP3 | The people who live nearby will get compensation from the construction of WTE plant | ||
Knowledge (KN) | KN1 | The WTE plant and their surroundings are very dirty and messy | [ |
KN2 | The WTE plant will generate a lot of smoke and waste water | ||
KN3 | The WTE plant will generate lot of toxic gases | ||
KN4 | The technology of WTE plant in China is advanced | ||
KN5 | WTE plants have been successfully operated for years in China | ||
Systematic processing (SP) | SP1 | I will make a judgment based on scientific information with a great deal of detail on the WTE plant issue | [ |
SP2 | I will require statistical information to make a judgment on the WTE plant issue |
Table 2 EFA and CFA results of the scale |
Variables | Items | Exploratory Factor Analysis (EFA) | Confirmatory Factor Analysis (CFA) | |||||||
Factor Loadings | Variance Explained (%) | Cronbach's | Factor Loadings | CR | AVE | |||||
1 | 2 | |||||||||
EBI | BI1 | .869 | 8.315 | .696 | .605 | .366 | 0.724 | 0.576 | ||
BI2 | .834 | .886 | .786 | |||||||
DBI | BI3 | .880 | 8.356 | .713 | .806 | .650 | 0.720 | 0.564 | ||
BI4 | .856 | .691 | .477 | |||||||
RP | RP1 | .608 | 15.462 | .835 | .765 | .585 | 0.835 | 0.506 | ||
RP2 | .652 | .818 | .669 | |||||||
RP3 | .761 | .635 | .403 | |||||||
RP4 | .806 | .650 | .422 | |||||||
RP5 | .739 | .673 | .452 | |||||||
BP | BP1 | .819 | 10.264 | .718 | .644 | .415 | 0.725 | 0.477 | ||
BP2 | .800 | .857 | .734 | |||||||
BP3 | .730 | .532 | .283 | |||||||
PK | KN1 | .763 | 11.994 | .792 | .616 | .380 | 0.806 | 0.586 | ||
KN2 | .857 | .911 | .829 | |||||||
KN3 | .816 | .741 | .549 | |||||||
TK | KN4 | .857 | 8.812 | .722 | .753 | .566 | 0.722 | 0.565 | ||
KN5 | .852 | .750 | .563 | |||||||
SP | SP1 | .920 | 9.445 | .892 | .827 | .684 | 0.898 | 0.816 | ||
SP2 | .896 | .974 | .949 |
Note: EBI |
Table 3 Means (M), standard deviations (SD), and correlations among variables |
Variable | M | SD | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 |
1. RP | 3.750 | .599 | 1 | ||||||
2. BP | 3.239 | .651 | 1 | ||||||
3. PP | 3.551 | .621 | .452 | 1 | |||||
4. TP | 2.916 | .624 | .200 | 1 | |||||
5. SP | 3.876 | .705 | .423 | .223 | 1 | ||||
6. EBI | 3.379 | .586 | .303 | .121 | .209 | 1 | |||
7. DBI | 3.321 | .567 | .236 | .079 | .121 | 1 |
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We thank LetPub (www.letpub.com) for its linguistic assistance during the preparation of this manuscript.
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