Subjective Expected Utility, Thresholds, and Recycling

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Abstract
Threshold models belonging to the rational choice paradigm are developed for situations in which actors have two behavior alternatives; the costs and/or benefits of each alternative are dependent on the number of other actors choosing each alternative. Despite the analytical power of such collective action models, attempts to empirically measure individual thresholds have been rare. In this article, a measurement procedure is proposed and applied in a survey on environmental behavior (N = 247) in which costs, utilities, and expectations of outcomes of two behavior alternatives (putting waste glass into public recycling bins vs. putting glass into garbage cans) and personal thresholds for recycling waste glass are measured. First, subjective expected utility (SEU) theory is empirically tested. Second, a multivariate model explaining disposal behavior is examined. Third, hypotheses about predictors of individual thresholds are tested. Finally, problems associated with the use and measurement of thresholds are discussed.

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