What Drives Visitors’ Use of Bins in Urban Parks? An Application of the Stimulus-Organism-Response Model

Littering by visitors has led to severe challenges for rubbish collection in urban parks. One way to solve this problem is to encourage visitors to put rubbish in the bin. The purpose of this study is to explore the mechanism that drives people’s use of bins in urban parks. The theoretical model of stimulus-organism-response is used to test the influence of stimuli (personal and social norms) on people’s psychology (facilitators and inhibitors), thereby producing responses (the use of bins). In this study, we used a purposeful sampling method. Overall, 400 questionnaires were distributed, and 356 valid questionnaires were collected from visitors to the Shanghai City Park in China. The data were analysed using structural equations. The results show that personal and social norms have a significant impact on visitors’ internal psychological state (facilitators and inhibitors). More specifically, personal and social norms are positively correlated with facilitators and negatively correlated with inhibitors. They have a significant positive impact on people’s use of bins. We also found that facilitators and inhibitors partially mediate the relationship between norms and behaviours. The study suggests park managers should introduce various measures to influence people’s personal norms and cultivate people’s awareness of their obligation, responsibility, and commitment to the environment, and managers should also show visitors the consequences of not properly disposing of their rubbish as well as place more rubbish bins in key areas.