Green product preferences considering cultural influences: a comparison study between Malaysia and Indonesia

Abstract

PurposeThere is an increasing awareness among manufacturers to make production more sustainable in Southeast Asian countries such as Malaysia and Indonesia. Manufacturers are now urged to not only focus on the business profit but also concern on environment protection by producing green products. However, issues may arise regarding the preferences of customers on green products, which will vary due to the influence of cultural values. This will give an impact on the marketing of green products. The aim of this study is to identify the influence of cultural values on the green products design in Malaysia and Indonesia.Design/methodology/approachA pretest on the survey instruments was performed to ensure the reliability and validity of the questionnaire. The collected data were statistically analyzed based on the satisfaction level, confirmatory factor analysis and structural equation modeling.FindingsThe results showed that customer preferences in Malaysia were mostly influenced by uncertainty avoidance, long-term orientation and power distance, excluding collectivism and masculinity. In Indonesia, the dimension of uncertainty avoidance and long-term orientation had significant influence, whereas power distance, masculinity and collectivism dimension had no influence. Eco-label was identified as the most important factor for green products in Malaysia and having product services characteristics factor for product lifetime extension in Indonesia.Practical implicationsFor practices, the cultural values and preferred characteristics identified in this study provide valuable information to policymakers and businesses on what draws customers toward green products in Malaysia and Indonesia. This finding can be used as supported data for the policymakers in order to achieve sustainable development goal (SDGs) in Malaysia and Indonesia.Originality/valueThe findings of this study provide valuable information for designers to design products with green characteristics that cater to the consumer market in Malaysia and Indonesia, as well as other countries which may have similar cultural traits.

Impact of participative and authoritarian leadership on employee creativity: organizational citizenship behavior as a mediator

“…However, the absence of the negative effect of authoritarian leadership on OCB and individual creativity could be attributed to the cultural differences. In Malaysia, there is a high power distance and therefore expecting obedience at workplace does not always have a negative effect on employees' behavior (Ghazali et al, 2021). Pizzolitto et al (2022) reported that authoritarian leadership does not affect employee performance when applied in settings where a power distance is high.…”

The Role of Pricing and Product Knowledge on Malaysian Consumers’ Green Purchase Intention

“…By considering its stronger influence, Malaysia has adopted the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development at the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) on 25 th September 2015 in New York (Yusof et al, 2020). One of Malaysia's commitment to the Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) strategy is to be more responsible in the production and consumption stages (Ghazali et al, 2021). The government provides financial incentives for green technology and renewable energy to optimize the use of resources to produce sustainable products and encourages industries to evaluate their environmental impact-related activities during the production stage (Chua et al, 2019;Ghazali et al, 2021).…”

“…One of Malaysia's commitment to the Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) strategy is to be more responsible in the production and consumption stages (Ghazali et al, 2021). The government provides financial incentives for green technology and renewable energy to optimize the use of resources to produce sustainable products and encourages industries to evaluate their environmental impact-related activities during the production stage (Chua et al, 2019;Ghazali et al, 2021). However, the challenge is the stage of consumption by consumers in Malaysia (Ghazali et al, 2021;Suki, 2016).…”

“…The government provides financial incentives for green technology and renewable energy to optimize the use of resources to produce sustainable products and encourages industries to evaluate their environmental impact-related activities during the production stage (Chua et al, 2019;Ghazali et al, 2021). However, the challenge is the stage of consumption by consumers in Malaysia (Ghazali et al, 2021;Suki, 2016). This may due to Malaysia's green trend is in its early stages (Tanwir et al, 2020).…”

“…Moreover, Quoquab et al (2017) pointed out that although consumers know the advantages of green products, many consumers in developing countries such as Malaysia do not buy them. However, Ghazali et al (2021) claimed that consumers' intentions for environmentally sustainable green products have appeared in developing countries such as Indonesia and Malaysia. Due to inconsistent findings, it is essential to identify the major driving factors that influence green buying intentions to improve green product purchases and consumption which can reduce environmental damage and provides additional motivation for current study .…”