Residents’ intention to take collective action through participation in not-in-my-backyard protests in China

Using the theory of planned behavior, we investigated the factors motivating residents’ intention to take collective action by participating in not-in-my-backyard protests. We conducted a survey with 286 Chinese residents living near a waste-to-energy incineration plant. Results of structural equation modeling show that the personal factors of attitude, subjective norm, and self-efficacy positively affected intention to protest. Perceived group size (in-group factor) indirectly and directly affected intention, and social trust (out-group factor) indirectly affected intention through perceived environmental health risk. The effect of situation factors on intention was positive for perceived environmental health risk and negative for perceived action risk. Collective efficacy and perceived economic risk had no significant effect on intention. It is, therefore, important to promote social trust to decrease risk perception and to prevent protest when locating not-in-my-backyard facilities.