Economic and Behavioral Determinants of Households’ Willingness to Pay for Improved Solid Waste Management: Evidence from Arba Minch, Ethiopia

Economic and Behavioral Determinants of Households’ Willingness to Pay for Improved Solid Waste Management: Evidence from Arba Minch, Ethiopia | Research Square window.SnipcartSettings = { analytics: { enabled: false } }; (function() { var accessVector = localStorage.getItem('access_vector') || ''; window.dataLayer = window.dataLayer || []; if (accessVector) { window.dataLayer.push({ user: { profile: { profileInfo: { snid: accessVector } } } }); } })(); (function(w,d,s,l,i){w[l]=w[l]||[];w[l].push({'gtm.start':new Date().getTime(),event:'gtm.js'});var f=d.getElementsByTagName(s)[0],j=d.createElement(s),dl=l!='dataLayer'?'&l='+l:'';j.async=true;j.src='https://www.googletagmanager.com/gtm.js?id='+i+dl;f.parentNode.insertBefore(j,f);})(window,document,'script','dataLayer','GTM-K279D39R'); Browse Preprints In Review Journals COVID-19 Preprints AJE Video Bytes Research Tools Research Promotion AJE Professional Editing AJE Rubriq About Preprint Platform In Review Editorial Policies Our Team Advisory Board Help Center Sign In Submit a Preprint Cite Share Download PDF Research Article Economic and Behavioral Determinants of Households’ Willingness to Pay for Improved Solid Waste Management: Evidence from Arba Minch, Ethiopia Mada Melkamu, Temie Alehegn Mengsitie, Adem Guye This is a preprint; it has not been peer reviewed by a journal. https://doi.org/ 10.21203/rs.3.rs-8054149/v1 This work is licensed under a CC BY 4.0 License Status: Posted Version 1 posted You are reading this latest preprint version Abstract This study examines the economic and behavioral determinants of households’ willingness to pay (WTP) for improved solid waste management in Arba Minch town, Southern Ethiopia. A cross-sectional survey of 185 randomly selected household heads was conducted in May–June 2023 using a structured questionnaire and a double-bounded contingent valuation method. A double-hurdle model was applied to analyze factors influencing both the decision to pay and the maximum WTP. Results show that 83.8% of households were willing to pay, with an average WTP of 47.5 ETB per month (95% CI: 39.88–55.22 ETB). Significant determinants include household income, sex of household head, house ownership, living arrangement, volume of solid waste generated, awareness of proper waste management, health risk perception, and confidence in municipal rules. Female-headed, renter, and condominium households, as well as those generating larger waste volumes, exhibited higher WTP. Awareness and health perception increased participation, while satisfaction with current services reduced it. Findings suggest that income-sensitive tariffs, enhanced awareness campaigns, stronger municipal regulations, and targeted interventions in shared residential areas can improve household participation and cost recovery, contributing to sustainable urban waste management in Arba Minch and similar developing cities. Solid waste management Willingness to pay Contingent valuation Double hurdle model Ethiopia Full Text Additional Declarations No competing interests reported. Cite Share Download PDF Status: Posted Version 1 posted You are reading this latest preprint version Research Square lets you share your work early, gain feedback from the community, and start making changes to your manuscript prior to peer review in a journal. As a division of Research Square Company, we’re committed to making research communication faster, fairer, and more useful. We do this by developing innovative software and high quality services for the global research community. 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Also discoverable on Platform About Our Team In Review Editorial Policies Advisory Board Help Center Resources Author Services Accessibility API Access RSS feed Manage Cookie Preferences © Research Square 2026 | ISSN 2693-5015 (online) Privacy Policy Terms of Service Do Not Sell My Personal Information {"props":{"pageProps":{"initialData":{"identity":"rs-8054149","acceptedTermsAndConditions":true,"allowDirectSubmit":true,"archivedVersions":[],"articleType":"Research Article","associatedPublications":[],"authors":[{"id":607417371,"identity":"ab98d489-ba57-4686-be4b-419365bd6d0e","order_by":0,"name":"Mada Melkamu","email":"data:image/png;base64,iVBORw0KGgoAAAANSUhEUgAAAZAAAAAyAQMAAABI0h/eAAAABlBMVEX///8AAABVwtN+AAAACXBIWXMAAA7EAAAOxAGVKw4bAAABEUlEQVRIiWNgGAWjYFAC5mYoI4HxQYKBjRyIeeABXi2McC3MBh8q0ozBWhKI1MImOePM4cQGMBuPBt32xmaDnzmHo/nbkx9I87Yxp88PO/wQaIudnG4Ddi1mZw42J/ZuO5w748wzA2PeNrbcjbfTDIBako3NDuDQciOx+QAvUEvDjQSDZN42ntyNsxNAWg4kbsOl5f7D5oN/gVrm30j/cJi3TSLdcHb6B/xabjA2J4Ns2XAjx7BxxhmDBHnpHAK2nElsNpbdlp678cybYoYPFQmGG6RzCg4AHYnbL8cPH5Z8u806d97x9O0/Egz+y8vPTt/84UOFnRwuLZjAAKzSgFjlICDfQIrqUTAKRsEoGAkAAGLLcEv1/mFOAAAAAElFTkSuQmCC","orcid":"","institution":"Arba Minch University","correspondingAuthor":true,"prefix":"","firstName":"Mada","middleName":"","lastName":"Melkamu","suffix":""},{"id":607417372,"identity":"28051a2d-fab5-41f3-b356-f01b157250fd","order_by":1,"name":"Temie Alehegn Mengsitie","email":"","orcid":"","institution":"Arba Minch University","correspondingAuthor":false,"prefix":"","firstName":"Temie","middleName":"Alehegn","lastName":"Mengsitie","suffix":""},{"id":607417373,"identity":"2f8930b7-56d0-4c06-9cff-3fa05fe895ca","order_by":2,"name":"Adem Guye","email":"","orcid":"","institution":"Arba Minch University","correspondingAuthor":false,"prefix":"","firstName":"Adem","middleName":"","lastName":"Guye","suffix":""}],"badges":[],"createdAt":"2025-11-07 07:23:30","currentVersionCode":1,"declarations":"","doi":"10.21203/rs.3.rs-8054149/v1","doiUrl":"https://doi.org/10.21203/rs.3.rs-8054149/v1","draftVersion":[],"editorialEvents":[],"editorialNote":"","failedWorkflow":false,"files":[{"id":104894234,"identity":"b6fd76a0-c4b3-4bcf-b8ae-256b4f2b10d0","added_by":"auto","created_at":"2026-03-18 11:26:51","extension":"pdf","order_by":1,"title":"","display":"","copyAsset":false,"role":"manuscript-pdf","size":569305,"visible":true,"origin":"","legend":"","description":"","filename":"Manuscriptwithoutauthordetails.pdf","url":"https://assets-eu.researchsquare.com/files/rs-8054149/v1_covered_08054bc8-39a3-4d88-8558-91c70dffbfbb.pdf"}],"financialInterests":"No competing interests reported.","formattedTitle":"Economic and Behavioral Determinants of Households’ Willingness to Pay for Improved Solid Waste Management: Evidence from Arba Minch, Ethiopia","fulltext":[],"fulltextSource":"","fullText":"","funders":[],"hasAdminPriorityOnWorkflow":false,"hasManuscriptDocX":false,"hasOptedInToPreprint":true,"hasPassedJournalQc":"","hasAnyPriority":false,"hideJournal":true,"highlight":"","institution":"","isAcceptedByJournal":false,"isAuthorSuppliedPdf":true,"isDeskRejected":"","isHiddenFromSearch":false,"isInQc":false,"isInWorkflow":false,"isPdf":true,"isPdfUpToDate":true,"isWithdrawnOrRetracted":false,"journal":{"display":true,"email":"[email protected]","identity":"researchsquare","isNatureJournal":false,"hasQc":true,"allowDirectSubmit":true,"externalIdentity":"","sideBox":"","snPcode":"","submissionUrl":"/submission","title":"Research Square","twitterHandle":"researchsquare","acdcEnabled":true,"dfaEnabled":false,"editorialSystem":"","reportingPortfolio":"","inReviewEnabled":false,"inReviewRevisionsEnabled":true},"keywords":"Solid waste management, Willingness to pay, Contingent valuation, Double hurdle model, Ethiopia","lastPublishedDoi":"10.21203/rs.3.rs-8054149/v1","lastPublishedDoiUrl":"https://doi.org/10.21203/rs.3.rs-8054149/v1","license":{"name":"CC BY 4.0","url":"https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/"},"manuscriptAbstract":"\u003cdiv language=\"En\" outputmedium=\"All\" class=\"ArticleTitle\"\u003eThis study examines the economic and behavioral determinants of households\u0026rsquo; willingness to pay (WTP) for improved solid waste management in Arba Minch town, Southern Ethiopia. A cross-sectional survey of 185 randomly selected household heads was conducted in May\u0026ndash;June 2023 using a structured questionnaire and a double-bounded contingent valuation method. A double-hurdle model was applied to analyze factors influencing both the decision to pay and the maximum WTP. Results show that 83.8% of households were willing to pay, with an average WTP of 47.5 ETB per month (95% CI: 39.88\u0026ndash;55.22 ETB). Significant determinants include household income, sex of household head, house ownership, living arrangement, volume of solid waste generated, awareness of proper waste management, health risk perception, and confidence in municipal rules. Female-headed, renter, and condominium households, as well as those generating larger waste volumes, exhibited higher WTP. Awareness and health perception increased participation, while satisfaction with current services reduced it. 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