A survey measuring purchase intention towards environmentally friendly products

1.1 Research gaps and contributions of research

The Malaysian government has issued special programs, including the Green Income Tax Exemption, to motivate more people to purchase environmentally friendly products. The government has invested RM2.23 billion in the development and promotion of environmentally friendly products (Abd Aziz et al., 2024). However, as of 2024, consumers’ purchases of environmentally friendly products in Malaysia remain low (Abd Aziz et al., 2024; Salim et al., 2024).

Consumers’ attitudes and intentions towards environmentally friendly products are important in Malaysia, as the government has allocated a substantial budget for the development and promotion of environmentally friendly products (Abd Aziz et al., 2024; Salim et al., 2024). It is imperative to conduct the latest research that examines consumers’ judgment at the time of purchasing environmentally friendly products. Nevertheless, Asif et al. (2023) and Hung and Chang (2024) revealed only minimal research examining consumers’ purchase of environmentally friendly products in developing countries, as most of the studies were conducted in developed countries. There is a significant knowledge gap regarding consumer behavior towards purchasing environmentally friendly products in Malaysia.

Although the Malaysian government has put in effort and assistance to promote the use of environmentally friendly products, the purchase of environmentally friendly products remains low, as the costs of environmentally friendly products are still more expensive than non-energy-efficient products (Abd Aziz et al., 2024; Salim et al., 2024). However, Aziz et al. (2024) and Salim et al. (2024) did not evaluate whether subsidy incentives have a favorable impact on the purchase of environmentally friendly products, particularly for low-income families, which face financial barriers in purchasing environmentally friendly products after the COVID-19 pandemic.

This study addresses these research gaps by examining the key factors affecting consumers’ purchase of environmentally friendly products in Malaysia. This study provides a better understanding of consumer purchases of environmentally friendly products. The outcome of this research could serve as a guideline for increasing consumers’ value propositions on environmentally friendly products.

In addition, this study can benefit renewable energy providers by identifying the most suitable marketing strategies and promotional packages that could improve the level of purchase of environmentally friendly products among Malaysians. The findings can be used to provide guidelines for increasing the perceived efficacy of environmentally friendly products to boost the value proposition to consumers. As a result, consumers’ willingness to embrace environmentally friendly products improves.

The government and related authorities can also benefit from this study, as they would be able to identify the problem and provide suitable solutions based on real-time data and information about purchasing environmentally friendly products. Thus, the government can produce a suitable action plan that would better suit the needs of Malaysian consumers. The authority can gain deeper insight into issues related to consumers’ purchase of environmentally friendly products and formulate necessary actions to enhance sustainable energy conservation practices in the country.

2.1 Purchase intention towards environmentally friendly products

Purchase intention, as defined by Kim and Lee (2023), refers to consumer readiness to acquire equipment or services. In this study, purchase intention towards environmentally friendly products refers to how much effort they are planning to put into acquiring environmentally friendly products.

According to Reddy et al. (2023), an individual must establish sufficient knowledge as well as technological and environmental awareness to purchase environmentally friendly products. Consumers with proper knowledge and confidence in renewable energy technology show favorable purchase intentions. environmentally friendly products (Hung & Chang, 2024). The purchase intention for environmentally friendly products change due to the impact of global climate change. Consumers’ buying behavior may be strongly connected to their desire to consume environmentally friendly products (Houf, Szymkowiak, & Shepherd, 2024). Saini et al. (2024) assert that individuals who are more knowledgeable about environmental concerns have a more favorable purchase intention towards environmentally friendly products.

2.2 Confidence

Stranieri et al. (2023) defined confidence as the degree to which a person feels assured about his/her marketplace judgments on a product.

According to Kim and Lee (2023), confidence can be conceptualized into two categories: knowledge confidence and choice confidence. Knowledge confidence is determined by their grasp of what is known about environment-friendly products. On the contrary, choice confidence is a consumer’s certainty of which environmentally friendly products they ought to purchase. In this study, confidence refers to the extent to which consumers believe that they have adequate knowledge and choice of environmentally friendly products.

Shehawy and Khan (2024) disclosed that when consumers possess high knowledge and choice confidence, they are more likely to frequently buy environmentally friendly products. The degree of knowledge and choice confidence reflects how assured the consumer is that environmentally friendly products address a genuine environmental issue (Houf, Szymkowiak, & Shepherd, 2024). Due to the lack of confidence in the reliability of information about environmentally friendly products, consumers may think that environmentally friendly products are not worth purchasing (Irfany, Khairunnisa, & Tieman, 2023).

People with high self-esteem have higher confidence in their knowledge and choices and are less affected by the views of others (Houf, Szymkowiak, & Shepherd, 2024). On the other hand, people who lack knowledge and choice confidence tend to engage in greater feedback gathering and have a lower intention to buy environmentally friendly products (Kim & Lee, 2023).

The following hypothesis is therefore evaluated in this study:

2.3 Family income

Another key demographic variable linked to consumers’ intention to acquire energy-related technologies is family income. Saini et al. (2024) defined family income as family income, which combines the income of all individuals living in the same household. Irfany, Khairunnisa, and Tieman (2023) highlighted that as family income increases, the disposable income will increase, and people are more likely to purchase environmentally friendly products.

Stranieri et al. (2023) studied the influence of family income on household energy efficiency consumption in France. The findings revealed that family income is a significant factor in the purchase of energy-efficient equipment.

Households with higher family incomes are more likely to care about environmental issues and thus purchase and consume more energy-related technology (Houf, Szymkowiak, & Shepherd, 2024). Households with higher incomes will consider purchasing environmentally friendly products more often (Haq et al., 2024). Therefore, if there is a higher family income, they tend to have more disposable income to buy environmentally friendly products that are more expensive than non-environmentally friendly products (Houf, Szymkowiak, & Shepherd, 2024).

On the contrary, households with lower family income could not bear the cost of environmentally friendly products, even though the equipment could eventually save their money on energy bills (Irfany, Khairunnisa, & Tieman, 2023). When it comes to making energy-efficient investments, low-income families are more cautious in spending due to financial constraints than high-income families (Shehawy & Khan, 2024).

The following hypothesis is therefore evaluated in this study:

2.4 Attitude

Attitude refers to one’s assessment of positive and negative consequences of making environmentally friendly product purchases (Houf, Szymkowiak, & Shepherd, 2024). Several studies (Irfany, Khairunnisa, & Tieman, 2023; Islam & Ali Khan, 2024; Haq et al., 2024; Shehawy & Khan, 2024) have highlighted that people are more likely to engage in certain behaviors when they hold positive attitudes towards them. Consumers form positive or negative attitudes based on past information obtained from friends without actual environmentally friendly product consumption. As consumers perceive that the purchase of environmentally friendly products can alleviate the threat of climate change and possess favorable attitudes towards the behavior, they are more likely to engage in purchase behavior (Ewe & Tjiptono, 2023; Haq et al., 2024).

Stranieri et al. (2023) identified that consumers with a cheerful attitude towards environmentally friendly products tend to believe that their investment is beneficial, worthwhile, and gratifying. Ewe and Tjiptono (2023) found that environmental concerns have an impact on consumers’ attitudes towards environmentally friendly products. If individuals believe that environmentally friendly products can reduce carbon emissions, they are more likely to form the intention to save energy and thus engage in purchase behavior (Shehawy & Khan, 2024). Consumers with positive attitudes consider environmental issues by checking whether environmentally friendly products are ecologically compatible equipment (Houf, Szymkowiak, & Shepherd, 2024). The growing global environmental concern drives consumers to purchase environmentally friendly products (Stranieri et al., 2023). Consumers with higher environmental concerns and positive attitudes towards environmental protection are more likely to purchase environmentally friendly products (Haq et al., 2024).

The following hypothesis is therefore evaluated in this study:

2.5 Subsidy incentives

Subsidy incentives refer to government expenditure to ensure that individuals have access to environmentally friendly products (Salim et al., 2024). Ewe and Tjiptono (2023) discovered that subsidy incentives can increase the relative attractiveness of environmentally friendly products and thus promote their purchase of environmentally friendly products. Alhamad et al. (2023) investigated subsidy incentives for environmentally friendly equipment and found that the sales of environmentally friendly equipment increased drastically following subsidy incentives.

One of the strongest barriers to energy-related technologies is their high purchase prices (Haq et al., 2024). Subsidy incentives targeting environmentally friendly products can help overcome purchase costs and improve the purchase of environmentally friendly products. Alhamad et al. (2023) found that households are more likely to spend more on energy conservation items when these investments are subsidized by the government. Consumers are subsidy acceptors, and their assessment of subsidy incentives is of utmost importance for encouraging their purchase of environmentally friendly products (Houf, Szymkowiak, & Shepherd, 2024).

Proi et al. (2023) argue that subsidy incentives are more appealing if granted at the time of purchase. Shehawy and Khan (2024) discovered that subsidy incentives play a key role in encouraging the purchase of environment-friendly products, addressing energy security, and alleviating the adverse effects of climate change.

Saini et al. (2024) discovered that citizens, particularly those above 45 years of age, are attracted to purchase environmentally friendly products when there are subsidy incentives (Gu et al., 2019). More studies need to be conducted to determine the reasons behind this finding and whether subsidy incentives are effective strategies to increase the affordability of environmentally friendly products (Proi et al., 2023).

Based on the above literature, financial subsidies have a significant effect on the purchase intention for renewable energy equipment. Thus, the following hypothesis was formulated and evaluated in this study:

The research framework of this study is depicted in Figure 1.

Figure 1. Research framework.

3.1 Ethics clearance

Ethical clearance was obtained from the Multimedia University Ethics Committee prior to the survey (Ethical approval number: PD20220376). Written informed consent was obtained from all respondents before the start of data collection, with a written assurance of response anonymity and data confidentiality.

Full ethics statement (Approved date: 3 July 2022).

MMU respects your privacy and is committed to protecting your personal data. All data obtained from you will only be reported in an aggregate format. Any quotes you provide will be anonymised. All individual questionnaire responses will be concealed, and no one other than the MMU research team will have access to these. The data collected will be stored in a secure database. Data will be retained for use as a baseline reference in future evaluations. The data will not be used for any other purpose. Please contact us if you would like a copy of your survey responses, and/or if you would like us to remove your personal data from our records. Please visit our website at https://www.mmu.edu.my/privacy-notice/for further details on Privacy Notice, including how you may access and correct your personal data or withdraw consent to the collection, use or disclosure of your personal data.

3.2 Instrument and scale

The survey included six items measuring purchase intention towards environmentally friendly products, five items measuring confidence, and four items measuring family income. Furthermore, the survey also had six items measuring attitudes and four items measuring subsidy incentives. All questions in the survey were measured using 5-point Likert scales, denoted by 1: strongly disagree, 2-Disagree, 3: Neutral, 4-Agree and 5-Stongly agree.

3.3 Pre-test and pilot study

The survey was pretested by two academics and two renewable energy experts to validate its accuracy and consistency of the survey questions (Chan et al., 2020). Based on the feedback from two academics and two renewable energy experts, amendments were made to the format, questions, and instructions to improve the survey. Thereafter, a pilot study was conducted in which surveys were distributed to 100 consumers in central Malaysia. The survey was finalized after the second round of validation by two academics and two renewable energy experts.

3.4 Sampling method and sample size

Purposive sampling methods were used to select the respondents. For purposive sampling, respondents must have basic knowledge of environmental protection, environmentally friendly products, and be 18 years of age and above. The authors set an age limit because underage citizens may not have sufficient knowledge of climate change and environmental protection. Filtering questions such as ‘Do you know what environmentally friendly products are?’, “Are you aware of environmental protection?” and ‘Are you 18 years old and above?’ were asked face-to-face before qualified respondents were invited to complete the survey.

3.5 Data collection

Three hundred participants from four developed states in Malaysia had the highest awareness of environmental protection and environmentally friendly products, namely the Federal Territory of Kuala Lumpur, Selangor, Malacca, and Johor. The survey was administered to the respondents in public places. Each respondent was approached face-to-face so that accurate pre-screening could be conducted to filter unqualified respondents. The purpose of this research and the meaning of each question in the survey were clearly explained to the respondents before the start of data collection. Over a six-month period of data collection, out of three hundred participants approached, 207 agreed to participate in this research. Seven responses with incomplete or straight-line answers were excluded, and 200 valid responses were used for the analysis.

3.6 Data analysis

Descriptive statistics were used to summarize and describe the profiles of the survey respondents. In contrast to descriptive statistics, which provide simple summaries of the profile of respondents, inferential statistics are used in this study to generalize or predict the key factors affecting environmentally friendly equipment purchase intention. Multiple linear regression analysis was used to examine the relationships between the independent and dependent variables in this study. Multiple linear regression analysis allows for the use of multiple determinants to predict purchase intention towards environmentally friendly products. It allows researchers to draw relationships about key factors affecting the purchase of environmentally friendly products based on a sample of 200 respondents, while simultaneously assessing the reliability, strength, and nature of these relationships.

3.7 Respondents’ profile

The number of female respondents who participated in this study was slightly higher than the number of male respondents. There were 99 (49.5%) males and 101 (50.5%) female respondents.

Most of the respondents were 21–30 years old, with a total of 90 (45%) out of 200 respondents. Next, 50 (25%) respondents were within the age group of 31 to 40 years, followed by the group of 41 to 50 years (16.5%).

There were 41 out of 200 respondents’ current family income ranging from RM3001–RM6000, which accounted for 20.5%, while 39 (19.5%) respondents’ family income ranged between RM6001 and RM9000. Most respondents had a family income of RM9001–RM12000, followed closely by RM3001–RM6000.

3.8 Survey reliability

SPSS https://www.ibm.com/products/spss-statistics?utm_content=SRCWW&p1=Search&p4=43700077631738678&p5=e&p9=58700008516329884&gclid=Cj0KCQjws560BhCuARIsAHMqE0Fc-I7aCZzUq3pVdWrwOz6Zd7BjKoe0MHxkxhimLA8wPhfDJlZ2j2IaAj7OEALw_wcB&gclsrc=aw.ds was used to measure the reliability of the survey instruments. All survey questions record high Cronbach’s Alpha values of between 0.7-0.9, as indicated by Table 1. The highest value of Cronbach’s alpha is subsidy incentives, with a value of 0.941, followed by attitude, with an alpha value of 0.940. The Cronbach’s alpha for purchase intention and family income had the same value of 0.939.

Hypothesis 1: There is a positive relationship between confidence and purchase intention towards environmentally friendly products

This study revealed a significant positive relationship between confidence and purchase intention towards environmentally friendly products. When consumers possess adequate knowledge about environmentally friendly products, an increase in confidence heightens their impact on purchase intention. Consumers with higher confidence levels have a higher probability of investing in environmentally friendly products. Moreover, this study recorded a significantly higher number of respondents with higher education compared to secondary school education, which contributes to better knowledge and thus higher confidence in environmentally friendly products.

Hypothesis 2: There is a positive relationship between family income and purchase intention towards environmentally friendly products

This study also showed a significant positive relationship between family income and purchase intention towards environmentally friendly products. High-income families tend to face fewer economic constraints and are more willing to purchase environmentally friendly products. Furthermore, a higher family income has a higher opportunity to purchase environmentally friendly products, as the price of most environmentally friendly products may not be affordable due to lower family income.

Hypothesis 3: There is a positive relationship between attitude and purchase intention towards environmentally friendly products

Another important finding of this study is that there is a significant positive relationship between attitude toward and purchase intention towards environmentally friendly products. Customers who like the features and enjoy using environmentally friendly products are more likely to purchase environmentally friendly products. When consumers have a better attitude towards environmentally friendly products, they tend to develop purchase behavior towards them.

Hypothesis 4: There is a positive relationship between subsidy incentives and purchase intention towards environmentally friendly products

In contrast to Saini et al. (2024), who discovered that subsidy incentives had a significant positive impact on the purchase intention of environmentally friendly products, this study finds that there is no significant relationship between subsidy incentives and purchase intention towards environmentally friendly products. In this study, most respondents were between 21-30 years old, which indicates that most respondents were from the younger generation, who were born after 1993. The younger generations most likely have limited awareness of the subsidy incentives provided by the government to encourage consumers to purchase environmentally friendly products. This contributes to the lack of a relationship between subsidy incentives and purchase intention of environmentally friendly products in Malaysia.