Model fitting index.

Waste classification helps to maximize the recovery of resources, reduce environmental pollution and promote sustainable economic development. To improve the willingness of rural residents to classify waste, based on the background of a rural acquaintance society, this thesis constructed a theoretical model of waste classification cognition, willingness to classify, economic incentives, face consciousness and vernacular identity affecting the willingness of rural residents to classify waste, and put forward seven research hypotheses. With the help of 530 valid surveys of rural residents in Jiangsu Province, the seven hypotheses were verified using structural equation modeling, and the mediating effect of rural residents’ willingness to classify waste was examined using the bootstrap method. The results showed that waste classification awareness, knowledge of waste classification, economic incentives, face-saving concepts and local identity all affected rural residents’ willingness to classify waste, and all were significant at a 0.01 level. They also showed that face-saving concepts and local identity played partial mediating roles. Strategies to improve rural residents’ willingness to classify waste have been proposed, such as multiple incentives to enhance subjective awareness, play the role of face culture in rural areas, strengthen the construction of public culture in rural areas, and improve rural residents’ local identity.