Behavioral Intention and The Influence of Demographic Factors in Purchasing Environmentally Sustainable Products among Residents in Petaling

The National Sustainable Consumption and Production (SCP) Blueprint 2016-2030 by Malaysia government highlighted the cultivation of green growth through consumption and production activities. The policy indicated the cruciality to explore the determinants of purchasing behavioral intention of consumers on eco-friendly products. This study thus aims to determine the relationship between the Theory of Planned Behavior (TPB) components and the purchasing behavioral intention for environmentally sustainable products. Limited literature on the influence of demographic factors towards purchasing intention, motivates this study to also examine the influence of moderating variables: gender, and level of education on TPB components and the purchasing behavioral intention of environmentally sustainable products. This study employs Pearson Correlation, and Hayes PROCESS analysis for quantitative analysis involving 390 respondents living in the District of Petaling. The study showed that all the components of TPB; attitude (P=0.000), subjective norm (P=0.000) and perceived behavioral control (P=0.000), appeared to have a significant relationship with the purchasing behavioral intention for environmentally sustainable products. For moderating effect, the study found that Gender indicated mixed results in which it influences attitude (P=0.0033) and subjective norm (P=0.0425) but not for perceived behavioral control (0.3070) while education level exhibited influence towards all the components of TPB and purchasing behavioral intention (P<0.05).


Introduction
Developing countries like Malaysia face enormous challenges in sustainable development since Malaysia has been pursuing rapid industrialization backed by foreign investment since the late 1960s. The consequence of population consumption on the environment relies mainly on the culture, habits, and behavior of the population. However, environmental behavior is mainly driven by the ethical principles of the population. On a world basis, these challenges include concerns such as climate change, scarring resources, primarily energy, air, water, and soil pollutants. Each year, environmental problems or green issues are a global concern that is becoming more significant. According to Wan (2019), Malaysia encounters enormous dilemmas in maintaining sustainable development. One of Malaysia major environmental issues is a solid domestic waste. Malaysia, for example, is still very much focused on landfills as the primary waste disposal system at the moment. Based on a study conducted by World Wild Fund for Nature organization in 2019, Malaysia has recorded the highest annual per capita plastics consumption compared to China,Indonesia,Philippines,Thailand,and Vietnam,at 16.78 kg per person. Malaysia ranks second in total plastic waste generation among the other Asian countries. The use of non-environmentally friendly products creates environmental issues such as plastic pollution, and it is approximately 4.8 to 12.7 million tonnes of plastics found in the ocean. For example, it is expected that marine life would be threatened due to an increase in the volume of plastic waste by four times between the years 2010 and 2050 (WWF, 2020). Recent statistics by Department of Statistic Malaysia (2020) indicates that a total of 3,108.9 thousand tonnes of solid wastes was produced in 2019 as compared to 3, 098.7 thousand tonnes in 2018. Failure to curb those issues would lead to environmental deterioration in Malaysia as the waste primarily involved non-biodegradable materials that require a long-term period to decompose. Green consumption has become the priority of consumers and companies in addressing environmental problems (Goncalves et al., 2016). In evidence, according to the previous study by Nakashima (2012), from the UN Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, reforms in daily consumption, food, and energy use could significantly reduce ecological damage. Though customers' concerns about the global environment and the continued growth in green product sales, the market share in green products remains very limited, especially in Malaysia. Furthermore, according to Mei et al (2012), studies relating to green purchasing are relatively scarce among Asian countries compared to Western. Referring to Mamun et al (2018), various studies agreed that consumers' behaviors toward environmentally sustainable products are much coming from western context and very narrowly found in other sides of the world. Due to limited discovery on purchasing behavioral intention for environmental sustainability in Malaysia as there are constraints in literature on green purchasing behavioral intentions, this study was established to provide a broader view on the subject. Theory of Planned Behavior (TPB) is one of the most common models in the consumer behavior area utilized by many researchers. According to Kim et al (2013); Hsu et al (2017), TPB is a widely utilized model in green product buying intention. Therefore, the research considers critical components of the TPB, which are attitude, subjective norm, and perceived behavioral control (PBC), and measures these in the sense of purchasing environmentally sustainable products. However, numerous studies have suggested several improvements of TPB theory to address its shortcomings by identifying other possible moderating factors that could affect purchasing attention, such as gender, and levels of education. Thus, this study aims to determine the moderating influence of these demographic factors and ascertain the relationship of TPB with the purchasing intention of environmentally sustainable products. Petaling Jaya, Selangor, is selected as the location for the study as the District of Petaling has been designated as "A City with Soul Reward Sustainable Lifestyles," which incorporated it with the green sustainability practices (WWF, 2015).

Literature Review Attitude
Attitude is an overall assessment of personal behavior (Ajzen, 1991) and holds a significant influence in customer purchasing behaviors. Some cultures have built a significant positive relationship between attitude and behavioral intent in green products purchasing (Mostafa, 2009). Zhang et al (2019) identified that attitude have positive and significant relationship in purchasing intention for environmentally sustainable products for both hedonic and utilitarian green products. Many prior studies claimed that attitudes are a critical anterior variable of purchase intentions. The more positive consumer attitudes toward green products are, the stronger their purchase intentions would be. Thus, consumers with positive attitudes toward green products may be more willing to buy (Wang et al., 2016). This finding is consistent with previous research that found attitudes toward green products significantly affect purchase intentions (Kim & Han, 2010). Attitude is also tested as an independent factor for predicting behaviors. Studies on green consumption contended that customers are more likely to know about environmentally friendly goods when they have positive attitudes toward the goods (Paul et al., 2016).

Subjective Norms
Subjective norms are defined as feelings of social pressure from others that are meaningful to a person's performance in some way (Ajzen, 1991), and they encapsulate beliefs about certain behaviors from the social pressure on individuals. Subjective norm denotes the perceived social pressure for conducting or not performing the behavior. It is an individual's opinion which influences an individual's decision-making (Maichum et al., 2016). Multiple studies have noted that subjective norm is a significant variable that positively affects purchase intentions and participation in environmentally friendly consumption (Sun & Wang, 2019). In determining the subjective norm, both descriptive and injunctive normative values are essential (Ajzen, 2015). Commonly, families, colleagues, advisors, or other professional acts or responses are of the utmost importance when making their own decisions. This condition is called normative, descriptive values. In the TPB model, subjective norm is regarded as the second independent construct of interpretation. A few other researchers listed subjective norm as essential factors in marketing and consumer research behavioral intent, such as green product buying behavior, halal food buying intent, organic food purchase intent, and online buying intent (Hsu and Chan, 2015;Irianto, 2015). Moreover, Nguyen, Lobo and Nguyen (2018) found that subjective norms significantly impact environmentally sustainable consumption and serve as the foundation for various consumption models and theories. Besides, a study done by Zhuang et al (2021), revealed that subjective norms have relationship in influencing purchasing intention behavior for environmentally sustainable products. All these studies found the relationship between subjective norm and behavioral intention to be significant and positive. Subjective norms are thus supposed to indicate the desire to purchase green goods. Various studies investigated the effect of subjective norm and comparison groups on the intention to purchase and actual purchasing behavior. According to Joshi and Rahman (2015), out of 13 studies, 11 studies found a positive association between arbitrary or social norms and reference groups with purchasing intention and actual purchasing of green goods, while two studies found societal norms had a negative relationship with purchasing intention and actual purchasing activity.

Perceived Behavioral Control (PBC)
The concept "Perceived Behavioral Control" represents the sense of fulfilment to accomplish a behavior due to resources and opportunities that they have in terms of money, time, accessibility and the self-confidence to perform the actions. PBC assesses the ability and the capacity of a person to perform the behavior. A particular behavior may exist when an individual has both the capacity and motivation to conduct that behavior, not when the person has only one or no factors. Many scholars have found that confidence in the individual's ability to control their actions indicates a solid correlation to buy a specific product (Maichum et al., 2016). It defines his or her beliefs on the impact of both external and internal influences on behavioral success. For example, PBC research has indeed been correlated to the decision to buy green hotels (Rezai et al., 2011), healthy foods (Tarkiainen & Sundqvist, 2005), and green goods (Moser, 2015). The concept of PCB is when individuals can act or decide with a specified behavior. Recent study by Zhuang et al (2021) in their meta-analysis approach found that PBC has an influence on purchasing intention for green products. According to Ajzen (2015), PBC can impede individuals from performing a behavior or encourage individuals to perform an action when faced with challenges or obstacles. Perceived behavioral control in the TPB model is the third most significant determinant. Based on the previous study done by Wang et al (2014), Perceived Behavior Control was represented by various factors, such as perceived inconvenience, time costs, and resources. Moreover, Wang et al (2014) established a hypothesis and concluded that perceived behavior regulation has a positive and essential impact on sustainable consumption behaviors using data from a survey in China. Meanwhile, Olsen (2008), in his discussion, also indicated that self-efficacy, convenience, and availability under PBC play important control factors in influencing consumers' intention for purchasing environmentally sustainable goods.

Purchase Behavioral Intention of Environmentally Suustainable Products
Purchasing environmentally sustainable product intention is conceptualized as a person's likelihood or willingness and way to accept preference to products with eco-friendly characteristics over other traditional products when looking to purchase considerations (Mei et al., 2012). Intention also emphasizes a conscious action plan that involves actions and motivation to act on it (Maichum et al., 2016). While behavioral intentions drive actual behavior, and behavioral intentions are influenced by main components, which are behavioral attitudes, subjective norms, and perceived behavioral control. In the context of an environmentally sustainable product, it is about the willingness and to desire to have green products. In some of the previous literatures, buying intention may be helpful by knowing a customer's possibility on that contributes to a purchasing decision. Higher buying intention calculates higher probability where it constitutes to the higher likelihood of buying a specific product or service exists by the buyer (Kanuk & Schiffman, 2000). Purchasing behavioral intention study has been proven by prior studies which could be one of the best models in predicting individual's future behavior (Yadav & Pathak, 2017;Liobikiene et al., 2016).

Gender and Purchasing Behavioral Intention for Environmentally Sustainable Products
Gender factors are frequently assessed and often create conflicting findings. Prior studies have found the important effect of gender on purchasing behavioural intention for environmentally sustainable products. According to Scott and Casey (2006); Oerke & Bogner (2010); Xiao and Hong (2018), females are more inclined to be involved in environmental conservation, making them more pro-environmental than males. Besides, a study done by Ko and Jin (2017), revealed that subjective norms had a positive relationship between female college students in China and United States in the purchasing behavioral intention for environmentally sustainable products.Research by Witek and Kuzniar (2021) has found that male and female environmental attitudes differ significantly, particularly females who display a more positive attitude than males. Based on research done by Patel et. al (2017), the men are showing higher pro-environmental behavior compared to women. In contrast, Scott and Casey (2006) found that women and girls might be more sensitive to environmental issues as they naturally socialized, making them more caring and protective. This would lead to a higher tendency for the female to have the intention of buying environmentally sustainable products. Other related studies also shared similar findings and claimed that women have greater engagement in home-based environmental behaviours (Oerke & Bogner, 2010;Xiao & Hong, 2018).

Level of Education and Purchasing Behavioral Intention for Environmentally Sustainable Products
Previous research has proved that more pro-environmental views are correlated with education levels. Research done by Sinnappan & Rahman (2011) shows that demographic factors including levels of education can act as antecedents that affect the behavioral trend in purchasing environmentally sustainable products. Shamsi & Siddiqui (2017) indicated that only educational level significantly influences consumers' purchasing behavioral intention for environmentally sustainable products while Rowlands et al (2003) show that individuals with a higher level of education are willing to contribute more to green electricity. Shahnaei (2012) discovered that education levels significantly affect purchasing behavior for environmentally sustainable products among consumers in Malaysia. In addition, Xiao, Dunlap and Hong (2013) found that College-educated students are more likely to compromise financial wellbeing to promote environmental sustainability and indicate that higher levels of environmental interest are expressed by more highly educated Chinese. Furthermore, there was a significant relationship between age and educational attainment towards sustainable consumption. It showed that individuals aged above 18 years old and who have at least a high school education tend to be more responsible for gathering new products, information, and purchases. These individual categories might have a close relationship with the intention to purchase environmentally sustainable products (Maichum et al., 2016). On the contrary, some literature did not find a positive correlation between environmental behaviours with education. For example, Witek and Kuzniar (2021) found there was no significant result that justifies the influence of educational attainment with preference for environmentally sustainable products. Kristrom and Kiran (2014); Millock and Nauges (2014) claimed that there is no indication that education addresses energy use and the influence of education on natural foods consumption, respectively.

Methodology
A cross-sectional correlational design is adopted in this study to anscertain the relationship between the component of TPB and the purchasing intention for environmentally sustainable products. Purchasing behavioral intention study has been proven by prior studies as one of the best models in predicting individual's future behavior (Yadav & Pathak, 2017;Liobikiene et al., 2016). Using a stratified random sampling technique, the source of primary data came from a survey in which the respondents are people who reside in the District of Petaling, Selangor. The areas covered under the District of Petaling include Petaling Jaya City, Bukit Raja, Damansara, Petaling, and Sungai Buloh. The questionnaire consists of 4 sections of variables from the Theory of Planned Behavior (Azjen, 1991) and the 5-likert scale instruments adopted from various literatures as presented in Table. 1 Ha and Janda (2012) Table 2, all variables' reliability were assumed since all the Cronbach's Alpha values were above 0.7. The statement is supported by scholar Nunnaly and Bernstein (1994), which indicates that the Cronbach's Alpha values in determining the reliability assume of a study need to be more than 0.7.

Results and Discussion Profile of Respondents
There are six (6) components of the respondents profile which are (1) Area; (2) Gender; (3) Age; (4) Marital Status; (5) Level of Education; and (6) Employment Status. Out of 390 respondents, The highest number of respondents was from Petaling with 131 respondents (33.6 %). In terms of gender, the study received the highest response from female with 206 respondents (52.8 %), while 184 (47.2 %) are male respondents. In terms of age, the study obtained the highest response from 177 individuals at the range age of 18-28 years old (57.5 %) and the least number of respondents coming from respondents of age 60 years old (5.0 %). In terms of level of education, highest percentage is 37.2 % or 145 respondents with bachelor's degree followed by Diploma with 145 respondents (37.2 %). As for the employment status, this study obtained the highest number of respondents from the private sector with 161 respondents (41.3 %). The second highest respondents were those from government sector, with 71 respondents (18.2 %). Based on the findings showed in Table 4.2, there was a relationship between "Attitude" and "Behavioral purchasing intention for environmentally sustainable products" and it was positively significant (r=0.693, P= 0.000). Based on the result, this study discovers that one's attitude has a significant influence on purchasing intentions. It suggests that consumers with a more environmentally conscious mindset are more likely to purchase green and eco-friendly items. Attitude has a significant role in shaping consumers' intentions against sustainable products. Many earlier studies have explored the correlation between attitude and purchase intention for green products and found that attitude is essential in determining consumers' purchase intention. Sidique et al (2010); Khare (2015) found a strong correlation between attitude and purchase intention in their study. Moreover a study conducted by Lestari et al (2020) found that attitude has a positive relationship with the purchasing behavioral intention for environmentally sustainable products.

Result 1: The relationship between the Theory of Planned Behavior and purchasing behavioural intention for environmentally sustainable products among the public in the District of Petaling.
It was also found that, there was a relationship between "Subjective Norm" and "Behavioral purchasing intention for environmentally sustainable products" and it was statistically positive significant (r=0.493, P= 0.000). This research finding is supported by studies done by Zhuang et al (2021); Joshi and Rahman (2015); Hsu and Chan (2015), where subjective norms have a significant positive impact on purchasing behavioral intention for environmentally sustainable products. Other people's views and opinions constitute the pressure towards an individual to motivate a person's green purchasing intention because they feel that the people around them accept the behavior and they should too. Thus, social pressure can be linked with an individual purchasing behavioral intention. Moreover, for the third TPB factor, there was a significant positive relationship between "Perceived Behavioral Control (PBC)" and "Behavioral purchasing intention for environmentally sustainable products" (r=0.530, P= 0.000). The finding is also consistent with research done by Chen & Deng (2016); Muller et al (2021), and research by Paul et al (2016) in India, where the perceived behavioral control (PBC) besides attitude and subjective norm has a significant relationship with purchasing behavioral intention for environmentally sustainable products. Therefore, the result indicates that the public in the District of Petaling, Selangor, will be highly willing to purchase environmentally sustainable products when they think they can control the uncontrollable external factors.

Result 2: The moderating influence of gender on the relationship between the Theory of Planned Behavior and purchasing behavioural intention for environmentally sustainable products among the public in the District of Petaling.
i. Gender: Purchasing Behavioral Intention for Environmentally Sustainable Products (DV) and Attitude (IV1). Based on Table 4.3, there was influence of gender on Purchasing Behavioral Intention for Environmentally Sustainable Products (DV) and Attitude (IV1) since the interaction value of P was less than 0.05 (P<0.05, P=0.0033). Based on the PROCESS analysis results, the gender variable has a moderating influence between attitude and purchasing behavioral intention for environmentally sustainable products. This finding was supported by past research by Witek and Kuzniar (2021), where there is a distinction of attitude between men and women towards the intention of consuming environmentally sustainable products. Besides, research by Bojanowska and Kulisz (2020) showed that there was a close relation of gender on the visibility towards pro-environmentalist activities. In their study, Sun and Wang (2019); Bhutto et al (2019) revealed that there is an influence of gender on attitude and purchasing behavioral intention for environmentally sustainable products. The influence of gender differences in the aspect of attitude can be seen in which women are more environmentalist compared to men. This statement can be supported by Rezai et al (2011), where women are more prone to have the intention to exhibit green purchasing as they believed that it is beneficial to protect the current environment for future wellbeing.
ii. Gender: Purchasing Behavioral Intention for Environmentally Sustainable Products (DV) and Subjective Norm (IV2). Based on Table 4.4, gender had influences on Purchasing Behavioral Intention for Environmentally Sustainable Products (DV) and Subjective Norm (IV2) since the interaction value of P was less than 0.05 (P<0.05, P=0.0425). The finding in this study indicates that the gender variable does have a moderating influence on the relationship between the subjective norms and the purchasing behavioral intention for environmentally sustainable products. This is in line with the research done by Ko and Jin (2017); Bhutto et al (2019) where they found an interaction of gender variables on the relationship between subjective norm and purchasing behavioral intention for environmentally sustainable products. The study was carried out in China and United States, where the female consumers recognize other people's opinions as an enabler in embracing the green purchasing intention habit.
iii. Gender: Purchasing Behavioral Intention for Environmentally Sustainable Products (DV) and Perceived Behavioral Control (IV3). Based on Table 4.5, there was no influence of gender on Purchasing Behavioral Intention for Environmentally Sustainable Products (DV) and Perceived Behavioral Control (IV3) since the interaction value of P was more than 0.05 (P>0.05, P=0.3070). The gender variable applied in the study determines its moderating influence towards the perceived behavioral control and purchasing behavioral intention for environmentally sustainable products. It reveals no interaction of gender towards the purchasing behavioral intention. A simple interpretation of the result is that gender does not affect individuals' perspectives despite barriers or opportunities they faced in purchasing environmentally sustainable products, such as the availability of sustainable products, time, and cost. For example, when an individual, whether it is male or female facing with a barrier to buying green products due to high cost, both might have the same perception to have or not have the intention in consuming the sustainable products. According to World Economic Forum 2020, the purchasing gap between males and females has been narrowed over the years, where women are increasingly empowered. Gender difference is no longer a discrepancy in today's world in which males or females might have the same viewpoint in a specific behavior. The results are corresponding with a previous study by Andhy et al (2018) where PBC factors failed to demonstrate significant mean differences between male and female millennial populations. Indirectly, this finding indicates a new exploration of the gender influence towards PBC and purchasing behavioral intention. According to research done by Arissa et al (2020) in Petaling Jaya, different research findings conducted in a different area might produce a different result. Therefore, this might be one of the reasons why gender shows no influence on PBC and purchasing intention compared to other studies. For example, most of the prior research found that there was influence of gender between these two variables, such as Oerke & Bogner (2010); Xiao & Hong (2018); Patel et al (2017) and not for this study.
Result 3: The moderating influence of level of education on the relationship between the Theory of Planned Behavior and purchasing behavioral intention for environmentally sustainable products among the public in the District of Petaling.
i. Level of Education: Purchasing Behavioral Intention for Environmentally Sustainable Products (DV) and Attitude (IV1).   norm, and perceived behavioral control) show the influence of level of education on the relationship between the Theory of Planned Behavior and purchasing behavioral intention for environmentally sustainable products. This is since results for interaction for P-value for attitude, subjective norm and perceived behavioral control is less than 0.05. Therefore, Ha6 is accepted where level of education has a moderating influence on the relationship between TPB components and purchasing behavioral intention for environmentally sustainable products among the public in the District of Petaling. This study demonstrated that level of education has a moderating effect on the Theory of Planned Behavior and the purchasing behavioral intention for environmentally sustainable products. Conforming to the same finding shared by Maichum et al (2016), education level influences an individual's perception towards the intention to purchase environmentally sustainable products. There were differences in results between the education groups, which shows that people with a higher level of education tend to intend to consume environmentally sustainable products as they have higher purchasing capacity than a lower level of the education group. Chekima et al (2016) disclosed the result of his result where the level of education is part of the important factor in influencing purchasing trend of an individual. Individuals with higher education levels may be well-informed on environmental knowledge and understand the importance of being wise consumers to purchase products that safe for the environment. Therefore, level of education can be concluded as part of the influencing variable in driving people in the District of Petaling to have the behavioral purchasing intention for environmentally sustainable products.

Conclusions
In conclusion, the study on purchasing behavioral intention for environmentally sustainable products is important to tackle the consumer purchasing trend. Human consumption study is needed, especially in sustainability products, since human consumption may disrupt ecological well-being as various products could harm the environment available around us. Exploring factors associated with behavioral intention and some mediating variables could provide an adequate overview to the government, business, and marketing partners to establish substantial efforts to ensure that environmentally sustainable products are part of the community practices. This is because failure to cultivate green practices through consumer consumption patterns could continuously deteriorate the environment since human consumption has been proven to be the cause of environmental degradation over the years. Thus, paying intention to the purchasing intention behavioral factors could shift the public preference from consuming conventional products that are not environmentally friendly to environmentally sustainable products. As a result, environmental problems can be mitigated. Employing the factors from the TPB in the study through quantitative method is relevant as the components of the theory have been proven by numerous prior researches capable of producing a relationship with the behavioral purchasing intention. Based on the analysis conducted among the public in the District of Petaling, empirical research findings show that attitude, subjective norm, and perceived behavioral control do have a significant relationship with the behavioral purchasing intention for environmentally sustainable products. In addition, the moderating influence for gender and level of education shows mixed results on the relationship between the Theory of Planned Behavior and purchasing behavioral intention for environmentally sustainable products. The moderating variable of gender shows mixed results of variable influence where age has the moderating influence on attitude and subjective norm except for perceived behavioral control. On the other hand, moderating variables of education do have moderating effects on all components in the Theory of Planned Behavior and the purchasing behavioral intention for environmentally sustainable products. Therefore, the study contributes to a deeper understanding of what factors could drive the purchasing behavioral intention for environmentally sustainable products for the current situation and the future niche of green practices. Measures should be taken by policymakers to improve the environmental interests of citizens through the implementation of appropriate environmental policies and regulations, increasing media intensity to foster environmental awareness and improving public understanding of policies and regulations in the area of environmental protection. Constructing a well-informed and knowledgeable society will facilitate the establishment of improved purchasing behavioral intention for environmentally sustainable products. The adoption of environmentally sustainable products practice is still at the infant stage in Malaysia, and there are various other factors that should be taken into consideration. Thus, future study is recommended to explore more factors which may associate with the purchasing behavioral intention for environmentally sustainable products.