IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/gam/jsusta/v12y2020i18p7338-d410117.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Environmentally Friendly Business Practices among Low-Income Households in Rural Peninsular Malaysia

Author

Listed:
  • Abdullah Al Mamun

    (UCSI Graduate Business School, Faculty of Business and Management, UCSI University, Cheras, Kuala Lumpur 56000, Malaysia)

  • Kanniga Malar Mohan

    (Faculty of Entrepreneurship and Business, Universiti Malaysia Kelantan, Kota Bharu 16100, Malaysia)

  • Noorshella Che Nawi

    (Faculty of Entrepreneurship and Business, Universiti Malaysia Kelantan, Kota Bharu 16100, Malaysia)

  • Muhammad Mehedi Masud

    (Faculty of Economics and Administration, University of Malaya, Kuala Lumpur 50603, Malaysia)

  • Rajennd Muniady

    (Department of Business Studies, New Era University College, Kajang 43000, Malaysia)

  • Noor Raihani Zainol

    (Faculty of Entrepreneurship and Business, Universiti Malaysia Kelantan, Kota Bharu 16100, Malaysia)

Abstract

The purpose of the study is to predict the intention and behavior towards environmentally friendly businesses (EFB) among low-income families in rural Peninsular Malaysia within the framework of the theory of planned behavior (TPB). Data were collected from 420 low-income household heads through structured interviews. The results reveal a significant impact of environmental concern (EC) and eco-literacy (EL) on the attitude towards the environment (ATE); normative belief (NB) and motivation (MO) on subjective norms (SUN); and skills and knowledge (SK) on perceived behavioral control (PBC). Additionally, there was a positive and statistically significant effect of ATE, SUN, and PBC on the intention towards environmentally friendly business (ITEFB) and the ITEFB on environmentally friendly business adoption behavior (EFBAB). This study provides empirical evidence with a proposed research model to address the environmental issues through improving the socioeconomic condition of low-earner families. The Malaysian government and relevant agencies should focus on improving EL, EC, MO towards EFB, and the SK regarding EFB among the low-income households.

Suggested Citation

  • Abdullah Al Mamun & Kanniga Malar Mohan & Noorshella Che Nawi & Muhammad Mehedi Masud & Rajennd Muniady & Noor Raihani Zainol, 2020. "Environmentally Friendly Business Practices among Low-Income Households in Rural Peninsular Malaysia," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(18), pages 1-18, September.
  • Handle: RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:12:y:2020:i:18:p:7338-:d:410117
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/12/18/7338/pdf
    Download Restriction: no

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/12/18/7338/
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Antonino Galati & Giorgio Schifani & Maria Crescimanno & Demetris Vrontis & Giuseppina Migliore, 2018. "Innovation strategies geared toward the circular economy: A case study of the organic olive-oil industry," RIVISTA DI STUDI SULLA SOSTENIBILITA', FrancoAngeli Editore, vol. 2018(1), pages 137-158.
    2. Galati, Antonino & Gianguzzi, Giuseppe & Tinervia, Salvatore & Crescimanno, Maria & La Mela Veca, Donato Salvatore, 2017. "Motivations, adoption and impact of voluntary environmental certification in the Italian Forest based industry: The case of the FSC standard," Forest Policy and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 83(C), pages 169-176.
    3. Ajzen, Icek, 1991. "The theory of planned behavior," Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes, Elsevier, vol. 50(2), pages 179-211, December.
    4. Kamonthip Maichum & Surakiat Parichatnon & Ke-Chung Peng, 2016. "Application of the Extended Theory of Planned Behavior Model to Investigate Purchase Intention of Green Products among Thai Consumers," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 8(10), pages 1-20, October.
    5. Muhammad Masud & Rulia Akhtar & Rafia Afroz & Abul Al-Amin & Fatimah Kari, 2015. "Pro-environmental behavior and public understanding of climate change," Mitigation and Adaptation Strategies for Global Change, Springer, vol. 20(4), pages 591-600, April.
    6. Park, Eunil & Ohm, Jay Y., 2014. "Factors influencing the public intention to use renewable energy technologies in South Korea: Effects of the Fukushima nuclear accident," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 65(C), pages 198-211.
    7. Gil, Jose Maria & Gracia, Azucena & Sanchez Garcia, Mercedes, 2000. "Market Segmentation And Willingness To Pay For Organic Products In Spain," International Food and Agribusiness Management Review, International Food and Agribusiness Management Association, vol. 3(2), pages 1-20.
    8. Gallagher, Kelly Sims & Muehlegger, Erich, 2011. "Giving green to get green? Incentives and consumer adoption of hybrid vehicle technology," Journal of Environmental Economics and Management, Elsevier, vol. 61(1), pages 1-15, January.
    9. Jianhua Wang & May Chu & Yuan yuan Deng & Honming Lam & Jianjun Tang, 2018. "Determinants of pesticide application: an empirical analysis with theory of planned behaviour," China Agricultural Economic Review, Emerald Group Publishing Limited, vol. 10(4), pages 608-625, July.
    10. Han, Heesup & Hsu, Li-Tzang (Jane) & Sheu, Chwen, 2010. "Application of the Theory of Planned Behavior to green hotel choice: Testing the effect of environmental friendly activities," Tourism Management, Elsevier, vol. 31(3), pages 325-334.
    11. Abdullah Al Mamun & Syed Ali Fazal & Ghazali Bin Ahmad & Mohd Rafi Bin Yaacob & Mohd. Rosli Mohamad, 2018. "Willingness to Pay for Environmentally Friendly Products among Low-Income Households along Coastal Peninsular Malaysia," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 10(5), pages 1-19, April.
    12. Ilma Mufidah & Bernard C. Jiang & Shu-Chiang Lin & Jacky Chin & Yulia Puspa Rachmaniati & Satria Fadil Persada, 2018. "Understanding the Consumers’ Behavior Intention in Using Green Ecolabel Product through Pro-Environmental Planned Behavior Model in Developing and Developed Regions: Lessons Learned from Taiwan and In," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 10(5), pages 1-15, May.
    13. Stern,Nicholas, 2007. "The Economics of Climate Change," Cambridge Books, Cambridge University Press, number 9780521700801.
    14. Ronnie Cheung & Mei Mei Lau & Aris Y.C. Lam, 2015. "Factors affecting consumer attitude towards organic food: an empirical study in Hong Kong," Journal of Global Scholars of Marketing Science, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 25(3), pages 216-231, June.
    15. Francesc Miralles & Ferran Giones & Carla Riverola, 2016. "Evaluating the impact of prior experience in entrepreneurial intention," International Entrepreneurship and Management Journal, Springer, vol. 12(3), pages 791-813, September.
    16. Abel Duarte Alonso & Vlad Krajsic, 2015. "The theory of planned behaviour, micro-growers and diversification: an exploratory study," Journal of Enterprising Communities: People and Places in the Global Economy, Emerald Group Publishing Limited, vol. 9(2), pages 94-113, May.
    17. Yee, Susan Harrell & Carriger, John F. & Bradley, Patricia & Fisher, William S. & Dyson, Brian, 2015. "Developing scientific information to support decisions for sustainable coral reef ecosystem services," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 115(C), pages 39-50.
    18. Minton, Ann P. & Rose, Randall L., 1997. "The Effects of Environmental Concern on Environmentally Friendly Consumer Behavior: An Exploratory Study," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 40(1), pages 37-48, September.
    19. Dimo Dimov, 2010. "Nascent Entrepreneurs and Venture Emergence: Opportunity Confidence, Human Capital, and Early Planning," Journal of Management Studies, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 47(6), pages 1123-1153, September.
    20. Haiyan Zhang & Michael L. Lahr & Jun Bi, 2016. "Challenges of green consumption in China: a household energy use perspective," Economic Systems Research, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 28(2), pages 183-201, June.
    21. Vachon, Stephan & Klassen, Robert D., 2008. "Environmental management and manufacturing performance: The role of collaboration in the supply chain," International Journal of Production Economics, Elsevier, vol. 111(2), pages 299-315, February.
    22. Grunert, Suzanne C. & Juhl, Hans Jorn, 1995. "Values, environmental attitudes, and buying of organic foods," Journal of Economic Psychology, Elsevier, vol. 16(1), pages 39-62, March.
    23. Smith, Samantha & Paladino, Angela, 2010. "Eating clean and green? Investigating consumer motivations towards the purchase of organic food," Australasian marketing journal, Elsevier, vol. 18(2), pages 93-104.
    24. Reinartz, Werner & Haenlein, Michael & Henseler, Jörg, 2009. "An empirical comparison of the efficacy of covariance-based and variance-based SEM," International Journal of Research in Marketing, Elsevier, vol. 26(4), pages 332-344.
    25. Saari, M. Yusof & Dietzenbacher, Erik & Los, Bart, 2015. "Sources of Income Growth and Inequality Across Ethnic Groups in Malaysia, 1970–2000," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 76(C), pages 311-328.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Abdullah Al Mamun & Muhammad Mohiuddin & Ghazali Bin Ahmad & Ramayah Thurasamy & Syed Ali Fazal, 2018. "Recycling Intention and Behavior among Low-Income Households," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 10(7), pages 1-22, July.
    2. Saeid Karimi & Genovaitė Liobikienė & Heshmatollah Saadi & Fatemeh Sepahvand, 2021. "The Influence of Media Usage on Iranian Students’ Pro-Environmental Behaviors: An Application of the Extended Theory of Planned Behavior," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(15), pages 1-19, July.
    3. Abdullah Al Mamun & Syed Ali Fazal & Ghazali Bin Ahmad & Mohd Rafi Bin Yaacob & Mohd. Rosli Mohamad, 2018. "Willingness to Pay for Environmentally Friendly Products among Low-Income Households along Coastal Peninsular Malaysia," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 10(5), pages 1-19, April.
    4. Petschnig, Martin & Heidenreich, Sven & Spieth, Patrick, 2014. "Innovative alternatives take action – Investigating determinants of alternative fuel vehicle adoption," Transportation Research Part A: Policy and Practice, Elsevier, vol. 61(C), pages 68-83.
    5. Shimiao Li & Nor Siah Jaharuddin, 2020. "Identifying the key purchase factors for organic food among Chinese consumers," Frontiers of Business Research in China, Springer, vol. 14(1), pages 1-23, December.
    6. Abdullah Al Mamun & Naeem Hayat & Chinnasamy Agamudai Nambhi Malarvizhi & Noor Raihani Binti Zainol, 2020. "Economic and Environmental Sustainability through Green Composting: A Study among Low-Income Households," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(16), pages 1-18, August.
    7. Abdullah Al Mamun & Syed Ali Fazal & Muhammad Mehedi Masud & Ganeshsree Selvachandran & Noor Raihani Zainol & Quek Shio Gai, 2020. "The Underlying Drivers of Underprivileged Households’ Intention and Behavior towards Community Forestry Management: A Study Using Structural Equation Modelling and Artificial Neural Network Approach," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(18), pages 1-26, September.
    8. Rajib Roy & Fatima Akhtar & Niladri Das, 2017. "Entrepreneurial intention among science & technology students in India: extending the theory of planned behavior," International Entrepreneurship and Management Journal, Springer, vol. 13(4), pages 1013-1041, December.
    9. Hsiao-Ping Chang & Chun-Chieh Ma & Han-Shen Chen, 2019. "Climate Change and Consumer’s Attitude toward Insect Food," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 16(9), pages 1-17, May.
    10. Waris, Idrees & Hameed, Irfan, 2019. "Using Extended Model of Theory of Planned Behavior to Predict Purchase Intention of Energy Efficient Home Appliances in Pakistan," MPRA Paper 109612, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    11. Chung-Te Ting & Chi-Ming Hsieh & Hsiao-Ping Chang & Han-Shen Chen, 2019. "Environmental Consciousness and Green Customer Behavior: The Moderating Roles of Incentive Mechanisms," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 11(3), pages 1-16, February.
    12. Nagarajan Shanmugavel & Rema Rajendran, 2022. "Adoption of Rainwater Harvesting: a Dual-factor Approach by Integrating Theory of Planned Behaviour and Norm Activation Model," Water Resources Management: An International Journal, Published for the European Water Resources Association (EWRA), Springer;European Water Resources Association (EWRA), vol. 36(8), pages 2827-2845, June.
    13. Ingrid Moons & Patrick De Pelsmacker, 2015. "An Extended Decomposed Theory of Planned Behaviour to Predict the Usage Intention of the Electric Car: A Multi-Group Comparison," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 7(5), pages 1-34, May.
    14. Rana, Jyoti & Paul, Justin, 2017. "Consumer behavior and purchase intention for organic food: A review and research agenda," Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services, Elsevier, vol. 38(C), pages 157-165.
    15. Jingnan Zhang & Shichun Xu & Zhengxia He & Chengze Li & Xiaona Meng, 2022. "Factors Influencing Adoption Intention for Electric Vehicles under a Subsidy Deduction: From Different City-Level Perspectives," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(10), pages 1-24, May.
    16. Nguyen Phuong Mai & Vo Nam D., 2023. "Exploring Organic Food Purchase Behaviors of Gen Z: An Application of TPB and MOA Model in a Transition Country," Foundations of Management, Sciendo, vol. 15(1), pages 35-50, January.
    17. Adnan, Nadia & Md Nordin, Shahrina & Hadi Amini, M. & Langove, Naseebullah, 2018. "What make consumer sign up to PHEVs? Predicting Malaysian consumer behavior in adoption of PHEVs," Transportation Research Part A: Policy and Practice, Elsevier, vol. 113(C), pages 259-278.
    18. Samah Ibnou-Laaroussi & Husam Rjoub & Wing-Keung Wong, 2020. "Sustainability of Green Tourism among International Tourists and Its Influence on the Achievement of Green Environment: Evidence from North Cyprus," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(14), pages 1-24, July.
    19. Shanyong Wang & Jin Fan & Dingtao Zhao & Shu Yang & Yuanguang Fu, 2016. "Predicting consumers’ intention to adopt hybrid electric vehicles: using an extended version of the theory of planned behavior model," Transportation, Springer, vol. 43(1), pages 123-143, January.
    20. Guang-Wen Zheng & Abu Bakkar Siddik & Mohammad Masukujjaman & Syed Shah Alam & Alvina Akter, 2020. "Perceived Environmental Responsibilities and Green Buying Behavior: The Mediating Effect of Attitude," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(1), pages 1-27, December.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:12:y:2020:i:18:p:7338-:d:410117. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: MDPI Indexing Manager (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.mdpi.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.