Assessing Sustainable Foreign Direct Investment Performance in Malaysia: A Comparison on Policy Makers and Investor Perceptions

Pick-Soon Ling, Ming K. Lim and Ming-Lang Tseng
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Pick-Soon Ling: School of Business and Management, University College of Technology Sarawak, Sibu 96000, Sarawak, Malaysia
Ming K. Lim: Centre for Business in Society, Coventry University, Coventry CV1 5FB, UK
Ming-Lang Tseng: Faculty of Economics and Management, University Kebangsaan Malaysia, UKM Bangi 43600, Selangor, Malaysia

Sustainability, 2020, vol. 12, issue 20, 1-38

Abstract: Sustainable foreign direct investment (SFDI) contributes to the development of the economic, environmental, and social aspects in rational governance practices in Malaysia. Prior studies lack the integration and synthesis of the SFDI attributes from the policymakers and foreign investors’ perceptions. These attributes are measured through the qualitative information and subjective perceptions and need to transform into comparable values. The fuzzy Delphi method is applied to identify the valid set of SFDI attributes and confirms the validity and reliability of these attributes. Moreover, prior studies have not examined the importance and performance of those valid attributes in qualitative information. The fuzzy importance and performance analysis is proposed to assess the attributes’ importance and performance level. The results show that financial, macroeconomic, and institutional policy aspects are among the most important SFDI attributes, together with environmental and social aspects. This study identifies the discrepancies between policymakers and foreign investors and suggests that the financial aspect is the priority of foreign investors that needs to be concentrated for improvements; meanwhile, the institutional and policies and social aspects in performance level are presented as a big contradistinction. The theoretical and policy implications are discussed.

Keywords: sustainable foreign direct investment; fuzzy Delphi method; fuzzy importance and performance analysis; triple-bottom-line (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: O13 Q Q0 Q2 Q3 Q5 Q56 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2020
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (2)

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