The influence of economic incentives on residents’ intention to participate in online recycling: An experimental study from China

Economic incentives have played an essential role in stimulating residents to participate in online recycling, but the internal influence mechanism has not been effectively revealed. This study discusses the influencing mechanisms of non-monetary incentives and monetary incentives on residents’ intention to participate in online recycling through an experimental study based on the S (stimulus) - O (organism) - R (response) model. The results show that both non-monetary incentives and monetary incentives have significant positive effects on residents’ intention to participate in online recycling, and there is no significant difference between them. Perceived value plays a mediating role in the relationship between non-monetary incentives and participation intention and between monetary incentives and participation intention. Temporal distance plays a moderating role in the relationship between non-monetary incentives and perceived value and between monetary incentives and perceived value. Residents’ perceived value of non-monetary incentives is higher in the near future than in the distant future while the perceived value of monetary incentives is higher in the distant future than in the near future. Our results are theoretically important and have implications for the practical development of online recycling platform enterprises.