Abstract:
Composting is a sustainable way of transforming organic waste into valuable organic fertilizers which have the potential to act as soil conditioners by controlling various biological processes. The prime objective of the current study was to determine the influencing factors behind the intent of home food waste composting, by employing the combined model of Theory of Planned Behavior (TPB) and Dualistic Passion Model (DMP). The combined model showed a higher predictive ability in comparison to the individual TPB model. The fit statistic of the integrated model was deemed good, and 65% of the variance for home composting intention was explained. Using a face-to-face questionnaire survey, a total of 203 valid responses were gathered from home gardeners and tested via a unique two-step methodology: the PLS-SEM and the artificial neural network (ANN). The results revealed that the composting intention can be significantly influenced by attitude, subjective norms, and perceived behavioral control. The study also confirmed the positive effect of harmonious passion and the negative effect of obsessive passion on the intention of food waste composting. Furthermore, the hybrid method produced more reliable results because HP was found to be the most important variable in both ANN and PLS-SEM results, while PBC was observed to be the second most important variable in ANN and the fourth most important in PLS-SEM. The results of the current study not only highlight the importance of passion in determining food waste composting intention in Dhaka, Bangladesh, but also provide helpful information for designing effective, sustainable tactics for encouraging residents to compost food waste at home.
