The examination on the drivers for green purchasing adoption among EMS 14001 certified companies in Malaysia

Purpose - The purpose of this paper is to examine the effect of four drivers, namely regulations (RG), customer pressures (CP), social responsibility (SR), and expected business benefits (EBB) on green purchasing (GP) in the Malaysian manufacturing sector. Design/methodology/approach - The Federation of Malaysian Manufacturers Directory 2007 and SIRIM organization, Malaysia, are the two sources provided the population units of 569, International Organization for Standardization 14001 certified manufacturing firms in Malaysia. Out of 569 firms, 132 (23.2 percent) positively responded for the mail survey on GP. Findings - The empirical findings of the study suggest that GP is affected by the drivers namely RG, CP, EBB, and firm ownership. The results also suggest that, although Malaysian firms show a high level of SR, it does not constitute a genuine driver for these firms to adopt GP. Research limitations/implications - This paper is considered as one of the first attempts to empirically investigate the drivers for GP. Further research in this area may focus on the other drivers such as supplier pressures, competitive pressures, community pressures, and employee pressures that motivate firms to adopt GP initiatives. Practical implications - The Malaysian firms place a high consideration on external pressures and business benefits as the main criteria for deciding whether to adopt GP or not. Therefore, the high sense of SR, exhibited by these firms, does not constitute the true motivator for them to adopt GP activities. Originality/value - The results of the paper provide insights into why Malaysian firms adopt GP activities. It also provides policy makers and managers with a list of drivers that can be used as directions for setting up appropriate policies that encourage firms to adopt GP initiatives.