Consumers’ Purchase Intention towards Green Energy: The Role of Green Perceived Value and Government’s Legislation

Abstract

Despite the government’s effort to shift the country’s adoption towards green energy such as solar energy, the use of green energy is still sluggish in Malaysia. This study investigates the role played by green perceived value and government’s legislation in influencing Malaysian consumers’ intention to purchase green energy. To achieve the objectives, an online survey was carried out on 271 convenience samples and data was analysed using Partial Least Square- Structural Equation Modelling (PLS-SEM). The study found that for green perceived value, except for social value, the other values, namely, functional value, conditional value, emotional value, and environmental value show positive effects towards consumers’ purchase intention; in addition, conditional value shows the strongest effect towards green energy purchase intention. Government’s legislation however did not show any significant effects on consumers’ purchase intention of green energy. The study’s findings have contributed towards expanding our understanding on green marketing; marketers and the government in particular, they have insights on the different values that Malaysians weigh when deciding on their intention of purchasing green energy as well as identifying conditional value as the most upheld value for Malaysians. The study suggests that under certain circumstances, incentives and subsidized rate given to the customers can be some of the future activities in attracting Malaysians to purchase and adopt green energy mainly because customers that adopt green energy were not influenced by peer influence or the government’s legislation.