International Journal of Business and Social Science

ISSN 2219-1933 (Print), 2219-6021 (Online) DOI: 10.30845/ijbss

The Impact of Individual Differences on Green Purchasing of Malaysian Consumers
Shila Shahnaei

Abstract
There has been resurgence in the social significance of sustainability with the recent concerns of global warming, although sustainability is not a new idea. Environmental concerns began on a national level in 1970, but it is again a ‘hot’ topic, and businesses want the appearance of being ecologically friendly. It has become fashionable to be “green” or to give the appearance of being “green.” Environmental problems have stimulated people’s attention to monitoring environmental impacts and developing new technologies for preventing or at least relieving the expanding burdens. Therefore a framework for enhancing the implementation of environmentally conscious design and manufacturing is important to designers and manufacturers. Environmentally conscious design and manufacturing is important to designers and manufacturers. The growing environmental regulations and consumers’ environmentally conscious buying behavior has obliged manufacturers to improve their environmental, technical and economic performance to survive the global competing market. The industrial experience in the past 30 years has proven that the design for environment (DFE) is one of the most effective strategies for manufacturers to address the challenges. The current trend of production and operations management, which emphasizes the management of the entire supply chain from raw materials extraction, to manufacturing, to the delivery of final products, to customers, presents new opportunities in preventing and resolving the problems of environmental pollution through product and process innovations. The purpose of this study is to create a process for designers to use when creating “green” industries. These identities should be unique and memorable .So the main purpose of this study is to explore the relationship between demographic and individual differences factors and purchasing behavior in green product design development in Malaysian consumers. Individual differences factors are defined as some personal characteristics and resources that are indentified as factors that influence consumer decision-making, based on Engel, Kollat, Blackwell model (EKB model). Individual differences factors for this study consist of income, time that consumers are trend to use for finding green product, additional amount of money that consumers are trend to pay, knowledge about the environment and green products, green attitudes and green values. A model is developed to guide the research and is based on supporting existing literature. The scope of this study is Malaysia (Selangor), and targeted population as all people who live in this location. Besides, sample of this study was 200 of consumers were randomly selected. The Pearson correlation coefficient analysis showed that all factors significant and positive relationships with purchasing behavior of green products. Besides multiple Regression analysis showed all variables except Time have significant impact on Green Purchasing Behaviors

Full Text: PDF