A moral extension of the theory of planned behavior to predict consumers’ purchase intention for energy-efficient household appliances in Malaysia

Chin-Seang Tan, Hooi-Yin Ooi and Yen-Nee Goh

Energy Policy, 2017, vol. 107, issue C, 459-471

Abstract: Electricity consumption throughout the world has been rapidly increasing in past decades. However, the current investment trend is showing signs of power supply inadequacy. Hence, many countries have embraced energy efficiency as a partial solution to looming energy problems. In reality, many people are not replacing their household appliances with energy-efficient ones. The use of energy efficient products in Malaysia is still at unsatisfactory level. Hence, this study aims at closing the gap by applying the moral extension of the theory of planned behavior (TPB) to examine the determinants of consumers’ purchase intention for energy-efficient household appliances. A survey using self-administered questionnaires was administered to 210 consumers in Penang, Malaysia, and Partial Least Square (PLS) regression was used to test the hypotheses. The findings show that consumer’ more-favorable attitudes toward energy-efficient household appliances and perceived behavioral control significantly influence consumers’ purchase intention for such products. This study also proved the extension of moral norm in the classic theory of planned behavior to be a significant predictor for consumers’ purchase intention. Policy implications like creating awareness for Energy Star Labelling, enhancing Minimum Energy Performance Standard (MEPS) and the role of education in nurturing younger generations are addressed.

Keywords: Theory of planned behavior; Consumer purchase intention; Energy efficient household appliances; Malaysia (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2017
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (74)

Downloads: (external link)
http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0301421517303117
Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:eee:enepol:v:107:y:2017:i:c:p:459-471

DOI: 10.1016/j.enpol.2017.05.027

Access Statistics for this article

Energy Policy is currently edited by N. France

More articles in Energy Policy from Elsevier
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Catherine Liu ().