The Younger Generation’s Awareness of Waste from Electronic and Electrical Equipment in East Java

Abstract

In this digital era, electronic and electrical equipment are being increasingly consumed. However, it has a limited economic and technical lifespan. Therefore, electronic and electrical equipment has become one of the main contributors to the increasing amount of Waste from Electronic & Electrical Equipment (WEEE), which contains hazardous and toxic waste for the environment. This study aims to empirically examine and explain the determinants that may potentially influence the young generation's awareness of WEEE. Utilizing the Social Cognitive Theory approach, this research proposed questionnaires that were distributed via a Google Form link to 374 young generations in East Java. Data collected were processed using descriptive and inferential analysis through the SPSS application to understand the partial and simultaneous effects between variables. The results found that social media, self-efficacy, and social norms simultaneously have a positive and significant effect on electronic waste awareness. Meanwhile, it was known that only self-efficacy and social norms variables partially had a significant effect on electronic waste awareness, but social media did not. On the other hand, social norm was a variable that had the largest t-count and beta coefficients. A very interesting finding was that social media, which was attached to the world of the younger generation as a technology-literate generation, did not even significantly affect their concern for WEEE; instead, social norms have a dominant influence.