Determinants of stakeholders’ attitudes towards biodiesel

Abstract

BackgroundConcern about the inevitable depletion of global energy resources is rising and many countries are shifting their focus to renewable energy. Biodiesel is one promising energy source that has garnered much public attention in recent years. Many believe that this alternative source of energy will be able to sustain the need for increased energy security while at the same time being friendly to the environment. Public opinion, as well as proactive measures by key players in industry, may play a decisive role in steering the direction of biodiesel development throughout the world. Past studies have suggested that public acceptance of biofuels could be shaped by critical consideration of the risk–benefit perceptions of the product, in addition to the impact on the economy and environment.ResultsThe purpose of this study was to identify the relevant factors influencing stakeholders’ attitudes towards biodiesel derived from crops such as palm oil for vehicle use, as well as to analyse the interrelationships of these factors in an attitude model. A survey of 509 respondents, consisting of various stakeholder groups in the Klang Valley region of Malaysia, was undertaken. The results of the study have substantiated the premise that the most important direct predictor of attitude to biodiesel is the perceived benefits (β = 0.80, p < 0.001). Attitude towards biodiesel also involves the interplay between other factors, such as engagement to biotechnology, trust of key players, attitude to technology, and perceived risk.ConclusionAlthough perceived benefit has emerged as the main predictor of public support of biodiesel, the existence of other significant interactions among variables leads to the conclusion that public attitude towards biodiesel should be seen as a multi-faceted process and should be strongly considered prior to its commercialisation.

Stakeholders’ attitudes to outdoor residual spraying technique for dengue control in Malaysia: A PLS-SEM approach

“…The results revealed that perceived benefit emerged as the most significant direct predictor of attitude towards the ORS (β = 0.618, p<0.001) (Fig 2), suggesting that when the respondents in the Klang Valley perceived the ORS as having higher benefits, they would be more positive towards the technique. This finding is supported by previous studies where perceived benefit emerged as the main factor of attitudes to GM mosquito [16], and biodiesel products [37]. However, in this study, the perceived risk did not have any association with attitudes but had a negative association with the perceived benefit of ORS (β = -0.136, p<0.01) (Fig 2).…”

“…Studies on consumer behaviour have indicated that perceived benefit and risk strongly influenced individual responses regarding acceptance of technology [36][37][38][39][40][41]. Perceived benefit is a positive predictor of attitude, while perceived risk is a negative predictor of attitude.…”

Participatory: Stakeholder’s Engagement Toward Dengue Control Techniques in Klang Valley, Malaysia

“…Mustapa et al (2019) have suggested engagement as one of the factors in the conceptual framework for determining behavioral intention to adopt pharmacogenomic techniques in Malaysia. The mean score of the engagement factor in this study has shown a moderate level and has similarity finding the score on biodiesel products (Amin et al, 2017) and xenotransplantation (Amin et al, 2017). In a separate study, Amin et al (2014) found that demographic factors such as gender may also affect the level of awareness, in which a group of females is highly aware of accepting genetically modified food and medicine.…”

“…Therefore, engagement involves a certain degree of stakeholder's motivation to accept or reject a matter depending on positive or negative attitude in determining their behavioral intention; the more positive behavior, the more positive on their participation (Chiu & Qijie, 2012). Past studies have shown an interplay of association between engagement with their perceived benefits in shaping good attitude toward GM rice (Amin & Hashim, 2015b), biodiesel products (Amin et al, 2017), and xenotransplantation (Amin et al, 2017). Mustapa et al (2019) have suggested engagement as one of the factors in the conceptual framework for determining behavioral intention to adopt pharmacogenomic techniques in Malaysia.…”

Acid-Catalyzed Esterification Pretreatment of High Free Fatty Acid Crude Rice Bran Oil for Biodiesel Production

“…Biodiesel is also known for minimizing environmental pollution due to the reduction in exhaust emission and toxic elements (Chen et al, 2018). However, perceived benefits of biodiesel production and use need to be critically analyzed prior to its economic feasibility and commercialization (Amin et al, 2017;Hanif et al, 2018).…”