1. Green product in Malaysia: Still a long way to Go
Authors :
Ismi Rajiani *)
Nurul Zazirah Nizam *
Kamarudin Abu Bakar *)
*) Universiti Teknikal Malaysia, Melaka
Presented in Sustainable Consumption Conference, Hamburg, Germany, Nov 6-8, 2011

2. Determinants of Consumer behavior:Green product in Malaysia: Still a long way to Go
Presenter:
Dr. Ismi Rajiani
Faculty of Technology Management and Technopreneurship
Universiti Teknikal Malaysia, Melaka
Hang Tuah Jaya Durian Tunggal
Melaka, Malaysia
Presented in Sustainable Consumption Conference, Hamburg, Nov 6-8,

3. ABSTRACT
 In the early 2000’s green technology is a buzz word. However in a developing country like Malaysia, customers’ acceptance of green products is still low due to the low number of environmentally friendly products acceptance compared to their non-green counterparts. On the basis of benefit and cost analysis, the purpose of this study is to identify the factors influencing customers’ decision in buying green product. This study argues that customers’ intention to buy green products are determined by benefit-to-self, benefit to environment, comparative cost and attainable cost. A survey is based on sample of 360 customers and potential customers of green products in Melaka, Malaysia and Structural Equation Model is used. The research revealed that the benefit-to-self factor is not a dominant significant factor which influences customers’ intention to buy green products. The implication of this research to the design of green products is then discussed.
Keywords: environment benefit, self benefit, intention to buy, comparative cost, attainable cost
Presented in Sustainable Consumption Conference, Hamburg, Nov 6-8,

4. Marketing and sustainability
environmental issues in marketing have advanced definitions of key concepts such as sustainability, green marketing, sustainable marketing (Wiese & Sherman, 2011)
Presented in Sustainable Consumption Conference, Hamburg, Nov 6-8,

5. Sustainability
The first way in which marketing can become more sustainable is through the development and use of green marketing (Gordon, Carrigan and Hastings, 2011)
Presented in Sustainable Consumption Conference, Hamburg, Nov 6-8,

6. Concerns when considering green marketing (Gordon, et al, 2011)
needs to be incentivized by the government
consumer doubts still persist about green product performance
much publicity about company’s efforts on sustainability is often perceived as merely PR activities
largely neglecting individual consumer behavior
Presented in Sustainable Consumption Conference, Hamburg, Nov 6-8,

7. Consumer Behavior in Green Marketing Issue?
Though companies and government have done all the best they can to boost a green marketing effort to sustainability purpose if consumers do not change their own behaviors then no significant improvement will be achieved mainly in developing countries like Malaysia
Presented in Sustainable Consumption Conference, Hamburg, Nov 6-8,

8. Malaysian Government Policy Model to Sustainability
AFFIRM
Awareness
Faculty
Finance
Infrastructure
Research
Marketing
Presented in Sustainable Consumption Conference, Hamburg, Nov 6-8,

9. Research Gaps
Variety of green product offered in North America and Europe but not in Asia (Yam & Tang , 1998; Sudiyanti, 2009).
In Malaysia, although green products are not new articles, but on the other side, there is no a significant growth in green products market. It is suspected that the main reason behind this situation is because Malaysian consumers’ environment consciousness is still weak.
Presented in Sustainable Consumption Conference, Hamburg, Nov 6-8,

10. Research Gaps
Thus, the present study attempts to fill up this gap by examining Malaysian consumers’ attitudes towards green products and in turn, its impact on green purchase intention.
Presented in Sustainable Consumption Conference, Hamburg, Nov 6-8,

11. Underpinning Theory Lezin’s (2009) Theory of Reasoned Action
Human is rational and will systematically use any available information (Cost and Benefit Analysis).
Presented in Sustainable Consumption Conference, Hamburg, Nov 6-8,

12. Sampling
Malaysian living in Malacca who visited store known as green product distributors regardless they come for shopping or sightseeing only and willing to participate in survey.
Presented in Sustainable Consumption Conference, Hamburg, Nov 6-8,

13. Images of the Consumers
The Hero (Campbell, 2005)
The Dupe (Campbell, 2005)
The Snob (Kartajaya, 2004)
The Social Responsible (Ogle et al, 2004).
Presented in Sustainable Consumption Conference, Hamburg, Nov 6-8,

14. Images of the Consumers
The Hero : carefully allocates scarce resources to the purchase of goods and services in such a manner as to maximize the utility obtained
The Dupe: of the passive, manipulated and exploited subject of market forces
The Snob: selects goods with the specific intention of using them to create or maintain a given impression, identity or lifestyle
The Social Responsible: demonstrate concern such issues as labour practices, production conditions,environmental impacts.
Presented in Sustainable Consumption Conference, Hamburg, Nov 6-8,

15. Result of The Research Descriptive Statistics Mean Std. Deviation N
ibuy
4.5258
360
ebenefit
5.4225
360
bself
5.3857
360
ccost
5.1515
360
acost
4.8075
360
Variables r
Strength of relationship
(Guilford’s Rule of thumb)
Sig value
Relationship (α =0.05)
I toBuy * Environment benefit
0.40
Low correlation
0.00
Significant (0.00 <0.05)
I to buy * benefit to Self
0.44
Moderate correlation
0.00
Significant (0.00 <0.05)
I to buy * Comparative cost
0.45
Moderate correlation
0.00
Significant (0.00 <0.05)
I to buy * attainable cost
0.42
Moderate correlation
0.00
Significant (0.00 <0.05)
Presented in Sustainable Consumption Conference, Hamburg, Nov 6-8,

16. Result of The Research
Coefficients a
Unstandardized
Standardized
Coefficients
Coefficients
Model B
Std. Error
Beta t
Sig. 1
(Constant)
2.452
.256
9.578
.000
ebenefit
.382
.046
.396
8.317
.000 2
(Constant)
2.095
.263
7.972
.000
ebenefit
.137
.072
.142
1.913
.057
bself
.313
.071
.326
4.396
.000 3
(Constant)
1.591
.280
5.683
.000
ebenefit
.077
.071
.080
1.087
.278
bself
.185
.075
.192
2.456
.014
ccost
.295
.066
.275
4.469
.000 4
(Constant)
1.342
.281
4.785
.000
ebenefit
.075
.070
.078
1.080
.281
bself
.160
.074
.166
2.160
.031
ccost
.182
.070
.170
2.601
.010
acost
.203
.049
.223
4.154
.000 a.
Dependent Variable: ibuy
Presented in Sustainable Consumption Conference, Hamburg, Nov 6-8,

17. Result of The Research
The highest contribution comes from attainable cost (0.223), second highest comes from comparative cost (0.170), third highest comes from benefit to self (0.166) and the lowest contribution comes from environment benefit (0.078).
Presented in Sustainable Consumption Conference, Hamburg, Nov 6-8,

18. One of green marketing in Malaysia
Malaysian Airline reduces fuel consumption by flying more direct routes.
It is expensive though, then people take other airlines
Attainable cost still the main consideration.
Presented in Sustainable Consumption Conference, Hamburg, Nov 6-8,

19. Conclusion
Consumers in Malaysia is neither The Dupe, The Snob , nor The Social Responsible. They are The Hero - the active, calculating and rational consumer who carefully allocates scarce resources to the purchase of goods and services in such a manner as to maximize the utility obtained.
Presented in Sustainable Consumption Conference, Hamburg, Nov 6-8,