Essay on Pollution in Malaysia

Introduction

Pollution is an environmental issue that affects most of the countries in today’s world. Pollution can lead to increaseof disease, reduced expectancy as well as reduced a country’s overall quality of life.

Background of research

There are a lot of worries about the state of the environment across the world. Purchasing behavior of consumers directly causes a huge impact on the environment. It is a social obligation for every company to be responsible by offering environmental friendly products. This should be across the world and not only in Malaysia. Having undergone tremendous changes such as attracting direct foreign investment, still Malaysia lags behind in terms of responsible environmental behavior. Malaysian people are fully aware of this problem and at some point they have failed to take responsibility. There are volunteering groups and NGOs which have offered to help in order to revive the Malaysian environment. These include: Malaysia Medical Relief Society, Malaysian Volunteer Fire and Rescue Association, Malaysian Nature Society and Malaysian Environmental which consists of a federation of 18 different NGO’s. These NGO’s play a critical role in rescuing, helping and educating the society on conservation of Mother Nature which basically involves the environment. Green consumption is one way to achieve sustainable development. This groups and NGO’s who are still consumers have high knowledge about conservation of the environment.

Green purchase behavior is the consumption of products that are benevolent/beneficial to the environment, recyclable or conservable. Products that do not affect the environment negatively are key and important since they ensure environmental sustainability. Penang is a state in Malaysia where the residents dumped a lot of garbage in the river in the same state, according to research done in 2008 (Bernama), this dumping of garbage in this river is the major cause of river pollution in the state. After this study still, most people in the state did not change much to the better being of the river which became a major environmental concern. We focus on how this environment can be revived and the factors that influence the purchase of these environmentally friendly products. The Malaysian people tend to have no love for the environment which forms a major problem of our study. They should be ambassadors of preaching environmental protection but surprisingly they are letting their environment down. The most important thing in this study is to identify those influential factors that affect the purchase of these products. Volunteers play a key role in the revival of the Malaysian environment as they educate the society on the importance of purchasing these environmentally friendly products. These factors which influence the Malaysian people to buy these products are further discussed in this piece.

Research gap and problem statement

Most Malaysian people have no love for the environment as seen in the Penang state case. This develops the major gap that we try to address. If we get these Malaysian people to develop love for their environment then we can solve this problem. The love for the environment can make one to take good care of the same environment. According to the study done in 2008, many respondents in this case the general public, do not have love for their environment.Studying the determinants of consumer’s green purchase behavior would benefit green marketers. In Malaysia there still exists a big gap between environmental knowledge and love for the same environment,only a few of the total populationin the study done in 2008 that responded positively to the same problem.

The Malaysian environment is at stake here and we look into the problem from a broader context. The environment should be protected always and the only way is to get to the root cause of this and solve it. Volunteers from Penang state are trying so much to ensure things get back to normal. In this case we are going to look at the factors that influence green purchase behavior among Malaysians. These volunteers are participating in environmental related activities to examine which of the determining factors show the highest influence to green purchase behavior. Basically, the gap in this case is between the people of Malaysian acknowledging their love for the environment and the factors that influence the green purchase behavior. As seen from the Penang case (2008) most people do not care much about their environment. Reasons why they polluted a river in the state that gives them water. When people value something they tend to be so protective to it and clearly the Malaysian people have no love for their environment. If we influence the Malaysian people to get to buy environmentally friendly products then we can get to reduce or rather help in conservation of the environment. Determining factors include: social norm/influence, self-image, ecological affect, environmental label, eco-literacy (knowledge), environmental attitude, and even environmental concern. They include environmental factors and some show or tell us the perceived seriousness of environmental problems and perceived environmental responsibility. These factors are well discussed in details in this piece.

Significance and justification of the research

The importance of carrying out this research is to help us realize or rather know the determinants of green purchase behavior. This will help Malaysian have an improved environmental mind. The research should be conducted because the environment is key part of our lives and we need to always protect it. Due to this we need to ensure the Malaysian people adore their environment and value keeping it in the right state. That can be done by avoiding polluting the state resource especially the environment. This is to ensure companies provide environmentally friendly products which can be recycled and that can decompose in any case.

Theoretical and managerial implications

Every parameter in life has its own theoretical implications and managerial ones. These have to be taken into account whenever conducting a research. Implication to those industries involved in green related products is that eco-label can serve as an essential marketing tool in promoting green consumption among green volunteers. Eco label is found to have a positive and significant influence towards green volunteers purchase behaviorconducting this research implies that we are discovered a gap that has to be worked on. The immediate implication of this research is that managers of various producing companies have to take into consideration the fact that the product they give should environmentally friendly and harmless. We expect the society to also discover that they need to protect the environment meaning that all this can easily be put to an end people should focus more on buying green product.

Research limitation

The biggest limitation is that most of the volunteers are only limited to Penang state. Another problem is that this study has depended so much on cross-sectional data.

Data collection is a challenge that we are encountering in this study. If the study was done more longitudinally where at least data can be collected at two different points of time then we are likely to have a more efficient study. With this then the green purchase intention can be traced at the different point of time to investigate whether intention has been translated into behavior. The possible further research is to ensure data collection is done longitudinally to ensure we trace the behavior and observe whether it has been translated into the expected behavior.

Critical thinking

The factors that determine the intention of, Malaysian consumers purchasing the green product include: social norm: it involves the way the Malaysian people think about the environment or the dos and don’ts in the state. Some of these might not be written down but it’s their social responsibility to adhere to such and do what is expected of them. The perceived seriousness of environmental problems also can determine whether the society values their environment or not. If they perceive it as so important then they are likely to do what they can to keep it protected. Responsibility acceptance is another factor, if say the Malaysian people accept responsibility in their environment and do what is expected of them then the environment can have a life. Attitude towards the protection of the environment can drive people to green product purchase. Self-image plays a great role in that it’s what you view as being useful that can drive you to be buying this products. Eco-literacy is another factor that we need to consider. If the people of a state do not have knowledge on the relationship between the environment and purchase of the green product then they can’t see any reason as top why they should conserve the environment.

Expected implication and research significance

The most common and obvious implication this research can have is additional knowledge to the academic field. The knowledge can be used later by the coming generations. Students will get the knowledge and the knowledge can be spread through educational seminars to be organized in the country. This will help spread the word on importance the importance of purchasing the green product. This is our primary reason why the research should be conducted. Once we create awareness throughout the country then we can be sure of changing the environment positively.

Another implication expected is on the green industries. This will be like a wakeup call to those processing and manufacturing industries in the state. Their products should be environmentally friendly and they should try and avoid polluting their environment by their emissions. This will play a great role in improving the state of the environment. It’s a collective responsibility of every individual and institution to ensure we are reviving the environment.

In conclusion, the environment is a key part of our life. We should always take good care of it and try to ensure its in the right condition. If Malaysian people can come together and fight the environmental war together then they can revive the environment. This would mean the Malaysian government to partner with its citizens and NGO’s to ensure their common problem is solved. The government can do this through subsidizing the costs of all green products across the nation. This will ensure prices are reduced and the green products are affordable.

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