HEXACO that associate with individual waste sorting behaviour

The association between personality traits on Individual Waste Sorting Behaviour (IWSB) is a research topic that particularly interests psychology, sociology and public administration. The research on this topic is limited, and most research has focused on discussing the correlation between prosocial behaviour and personality traits. As a component of prosocial behaviour, the IWSB plays a significant role in promoting the sustainable development of society. Thus, this paper focuses on investigating and differentiating the quantitative relationship between personality traits and IWSB in China, filling the research gap in the relevant field. Assisted by convenience sampling, the author distributed Chinese residents of community J/K in Nanjing, Jiangsu province, to test their performance of IWSB and personality traits with two types of questionnaires created by the Nanjing Municipal Government (called Classification of Domestic Waste in Nanjing which measures the performance of IWSB), and Ashton and Lee (called HEXACO-60 which measures personality traits). With the help of regression analysis, two conclusions could be made accordingly. Firstly, Honesty-Humility/Agreeableness/Consciousness has a positive association with the IWSB significantly, whilst Emotionality/eXtraversion/Openness to experience has a negative association with the IWSB robustly. Secondly, age, education level, annual salary, Honesty-Humility, Emotionality, Extraversion, Agreeableness, Consciousness, and Openness to experience could provide a 17.70% explanation for the variance of the IWSB. Based on the results, three recommendations could be given to promote waste sorting behaviour or improve sustainable waste management practices. At first, people with prominent Emotionality/eXtraversion/Openness to experience performed poorly in IWSB. Therefore, in promoting waste classification, they should be the focus of attention. Afterwards, strengthening the cultivation of Honesty-Humility/Agreeableness/Consciousness in individual personality is conducive to better promoting the popularization of the IWSB. Finally, personality traits can be used to predict a person’s performance on the IWSB.