Development and validation of the responsible recycling behavior scale: a multidimensional assessment of university students’ recycling practices

Creative Commons License

UĞULU İ.

Environmental Research Communications, cilt.8, sa.6, 2026 (SCI-Expanded, Scopus)

Özet

Despite increasing emphasis on sustainability, existing instruments for assessing recycling behavior often rely on single indicators or attitudinal measures, limiting their ability to capture the multidimensional nature of responsible recycling practices. Addressing this gap, this study aims to develop and validate the Responsible Recycling Behavior Scale, a theory-driven, multidimensional instrument to assess responsible recycling behavior among university students. A mixed-method design was employed. Item generation was based on a literature review and qualitative data, followed by expert evaluation. The scale was tested using data from three independent samples of university students (N = 1105). Exploratory factor analysis and confirmatory factor analysis were conducted to examine the factor structure, and reliability and validity analyses were performed. The findings support a 24-item, five-factor structure consisting of ecomanagement/physical action, consumer/economic action, individual/public persuasion action, political action, and legal action. The model demonstrated good fit indices, along with satisfactory reliability, convergent validity, and discriminant validity. These results indicate that responsible recycling behavior is multidimensional, extending beyond routine practices to include social, economic, and institutional forms of engagement. The study contributes to the literature by providing a behavior-focused, multidimensional measurement tool that enables a comprehensive assessment of responsible recycling behavior among university students.