Integrating behaviour change strategies to enhance construction and demolition waste management practices

Purpose Construction and demolition waste (CDW) management has gained growing attention due to its potential to mitigate environmental challenges. India generates approximately 100–300 million tonnes of CDW annually, a figure expected to rise substantially. This study examines how different moral foundations influence construction professionals' intentions to responsibly dispose of CDW in India, while accounting for economic considerations such as cost sensitivity. Design/methodology/approach The study employed structural equation modelling to test the proposed conceptual model. The data were collected from construction professionals, including contractors, project managers, supervisors and site engineers. After excluding incomplete responses, the final sample comprised 350 respondents. Findings The results show that care/harm is the strongest moral driver of disposal intention, followed by loyalty/betrayal and fairness/cheating. Authority/subversion and sanctity/degradation play supportive roles. Cost sensitivity negatively affects intention and selectively moderates authority-based moral reasoning, but does not weaken care-driven motivations, indicating a moral override effect. Originality/value This study extends moral foundations theory by demonstrating that both individualising and binding moral foundations shape compliance-oriented environmental behaviour. The key contribution lies in identifying a moral override effect, whereby authority-based moral concerns attenuate the negative impact of cost sensitivity on CDW disposal intentions, offering new theoretical and practical insights.