Are habits driven by motivation in large urban contexts? The role of goal pursuit in waste separation behavior

Household waste separation constitutes a crucial component of sustainable waste management. This study employs a model grounded in the Theory of Planned Behavior (TPB) to investigate the determinants influencing the intention to engage in household waste separation. Structural equation modeling was applied to test the hypothesized relationships among constructs. The results confirm the robustness of traditional TPB predictors of intention: attitude (β = 0.400, p < 0.001), perceived behavioral control (β = 0.396, p < 0.001), and subjective norms (β = 0.114, p < 0.05). In addition, environmental motivation exerts a significant positive effect on both attitudes (β = 0.318, p < 0.001) and habits (β = 0.642, p < 0.001); habits influence intention (β = 0.225, p < 0.01), attitude (β = 0.439, p < 0.001), perceived behavioral control (β = 0.721, p < 0.001), and past behavior (β = 0.225, p < 0.05). Collectively, these findings demonstrate that extending the TPB framework to incorporate environmental motivation and habitual processes enhances its explanatory power, particularly when analyzing repetitive actions with minimal volitional control, such as waste separation. Finally, this paper provides policy recommendations and future research directions, including the development of targeted campaigns designed to activate pro-environmental goals.