Implementation of 3R among Staff at the Petroleum Management

Company

Nik Noor Afizah Azlan

, Nur Ainina Ab Latif

, Nurul Ulfa Abdul Aziz

and Najah Lukman

Faculty of Business and Management, UiTM Cawangan Terengganu, Terengganu, Malaysia

BBA (Hons) Operations Management, Faculty of Business and Management, UiTM Cawangan Terengganu, Terengganu,

Malaysia

Keywords: 3R, Waste Management, Environmental Attitudes, Knowledge of 3R, Social Pressure

Abstract: 3R promotes the advantages of the environment, better health for those living in the community, and the re-

use of materials. We can experience the advantages of 3R if we start having a sustainability lifestyle by

engaging implementation of 3R in our daily life. This study focusses on the implementation of 3R at one of

the Petroleum Management Company (PMC) in Malaysia. The objectives were to identify the relationships

between environmental attitudes, knowledge of 3R and social pressure towards the implementation of 3R

among staff, as well as to examine the most influential factor towards it. The questionnaires were distributed

using convenient sampling technique for data collection to 201 respondents from the population of 400 staff.

The result shows that all the independent variables are significant and have positive correlation with the

dependent variable. The independent variables also contribute 84.9% in explaining the dependent variable

and the most influence factor towards the implementation of 3R is environmental attitudes.

1 INTRODUCTION

In this modern era, we are facing with a global

environmental crisis such as pollution, global climate

change, and waste management problem. This is due

to rapid growth of world population especially in

urban areas that significantly impact the

environmental capacity (Salem, Purwanto, DEA,

Henna, Apt and MES, 2015).

Improved living standards, rapid economic

growth and industrial development in large cities

have an extreme impact on the improvement of waste

residue (Salem, Purwanto, DEA, Henna, Apt and

MES, 2015). In order to manage waste, 3R is used as

the model approach. However, different countries

have their own policies based on each country’s

particular circumstances or political strategies (Sakai,

Yoshida, Hirai et al., 2011).

Malaysia government already gazetted the Solid

Waste and Public Cleansing Management Act 2007.

Furthermore, the implementation of solid waste

segregation was effectively enforced on 1 September

2015 by the Ministry of Urban Wellbeing, Housing

and Local Government involving the Federal

Territories of Kuala Lumpur and Putrajaya, Johor,

Malacca, Negeri Sembilan, Pahang, Kedah and

Perlis.

However, according to Solid Waste and Public

Cleansing Management Corporation “awareness in

reducing household waste through recycling is still

low among Malaysians”, (The Star Online, 2017).

Thus, public knowledge and awareness of 3R

should be enhanced from time to time to all

Malaysians. Many programs can be done at schools,

universities and offices such as seminars,

competitions, poster wars and many more.

According to the Sustainability Annual Report of

PMC in 2016, the company already provide facilities

to the staff to manage their waste such as shredding

machine and recycle bin. However, they have thrown

away all the papers or cardboards in the general waste

bin and printed their work in large amount instead of

using e-book or laptop to display the report. These

issues happened because of lack of awareness among

them. Thus, the staff were not implementing the 3R

at their workplace.

Therefore, our aim for this study was to identify

the relationship between the influential factors

towards the implementation of 3R among staff at

PMC and to examine the most influential factor

towards it. Based on the literature review, we

identified three factors, namely environmental

attitudes, knowledge of 3R and social pressure.

178

Aﬁzah Azlan, N., Ab Latif, N., Lukman, N. and Abdul Aziz, N.

Implementation of 3R among Staff at the Petroleum Management Company.

DOI: 10.5220/0009201101780183

In Proceedings of the 2nd Economics and Business International Conference (EBIC 2019) - Economics and Business in Industrial Revolution 4.0, pages 178-183

ISBN: 978-989-758-498-5

Hypothesis:

: There is a significant relationship between

environmental attitudes and implementation of

3R.

: There is a significant relationship between

knowledge of 3R and implementation of 3R.

: There is a significant relationship between

social pressure and implementation of 3R.

2 LITERATURE REVIEW

3R is for Reduce, Reuse and Recycle. Reduce is

defined as finding ways to minimize the amount of

trash that we throw away (Sakai, Yano, Hirai, Asari

et al., 2011) or use less (Kivi, 2011). Whereby reuse

is to use something again instead of throwing it away

or sending it off to a recycling company;

or finding a

new use for them (Sakai et al., 2011; Kivi 2011).

Reusing helps in situations where it isn't possible to

reduce. While recycle is to turn items into new objects

instead of throwing them in the trash (Kivi, 2011).

2.1 Environmental Attitudes

An attitude is defined as a condition of mental and

nervous readiness, which show the direction, the

influence on individual responses to all objects and

situations associated with it (Bohner and Wanke,

2014). Consumer decision in buying products is often

based on their environmental attitude (Anvar, 2014).

The quality of the environment relies on knowledge,

attitudes, values and consumer guidelines. Attitude is

the clearest explanation of the readiness of consumers

to pay for green products (Aini, Laily, Nurizan,

Azizah, Zuroni & Norhasmah, 2006).

It is a strong motivation for environmental

attitudes as far as the person feels responsible to

implement 3R in connection with the nature of

conservation-related products. This research suggests

that eco-friendly behaviour can be characterized as a

moral claim. Users feel morally responsible for

protecting the environment and saving the limited

natural resources on earth.

However, some researchers found that consumers'

green decision purchases are not much related to

moral thinking (Tanner and Kast 2003). The

government's role in protecting the environment

cannot be ignored. The Malaysian government

promotes and support the sustainable strategies

through social advertising such as establishing 3R

campaigns and offering 3R infrastructure for public

use, as well as educating and nurturing environmental

awareness among Malaysians (Haron, Paim, and

Yahaya, 2005). The most significant factor that

influence the nature is not public policy, but public

knowledge. Many individuals have strong

environmental concerns, but they believe that

maintaining the environment is a significant duty of

the government only (Weng, Chen & Chen, 2015).

Previous research argued that having

environmental attitudes can give a motivation to

increase appropriate behaviour which can increase a

number of personality traits, such as when they are

feeling good about 3R activities, they would be

willing to gain more by implementing it in their daily

life (Barr, 2007).

2.2 Knowledge of 3R

Economic growth is seen slowing into 2020 as

prolonged trade tensions and weak tech demand

hinder the export-reliant economy. The U.S.-China

trade dispute and a downturn in China continue to

cloud the outlook. However, Focus Economics

panellists forecast the economy will still be growing

4.5% in 2019 and 4.3% in 2020, which is down 0.1

percentage points from last month’s forecast

(Malaysia Economic Growth, 2019).

With the slowing down of the economy, one

would think that Malaysian spending power would go

down. However, contradictory to that assumption,

consumer spending in Malaysia increased to 203388

MYR Million in the second quarter of 2019 from

198724 MYR Million in the first quarter of 2019.

Consumer spending in Malaysia averaged 118793.17

MYR Million from 2005 until 2019, reaching an all-

time high of 203718 MYR Million in the third quarter

of 2018 (“Malaysia Consumer Spending,” n.d.)

With that high consumer spending power,

Malaysians are able to fulfil their high level of need

for goods and services in the market. It seems that

Malaysian consumers are more interested in lifestyle

oriented use. According to “Malaysia E-Commerce,”

(n.d.) these products are the top most purchased

categories of products in Malaysia (fashion & beauty,

electronics & physical media, food & personal care,

furniture & appliances, toys & hobbies/ sports,

travelling (including accommodation), digital music

and video games). Because of this lifestyle,

environmental issues build up every time we

advanced in technologies.

In many researches, the importance of knowledge

in the process of decision-making and the impact of

lack of understanding demonstrate. For example,

environmental awareness and behaviour are

influenced by values, attitudes and knowledge. In

recycling and non-recycling studies, it was concluded

that the attitude or motive of the two groups did not

differ, but there were significant differences in their

Implementation of 3R among Staff at the Petroleum Management Company

179

operational knowledge. Thus, the confusion about the

3R process is associated with a lack of knowledge

about 3R. Moreover, many studies indicate that

awareness usually impacts the environmentally

friendly approach, which in turn motivates the

behaviour of consumers who are environmentally or

socially accountable. Similarly, some studies also

conclude that information and knowledge about 3R

are both important predictors in the 3R behaviour.

There is a variety of factors that influence the

behaviour on environmental consciousness such as

environmental knowledge, or the ability of a person

to understand and assess the impact of society on

ecosystems (Haron, Paim, and Yahaya, 2005). The

condition of a person's knowledge about effects of the

problem is significant when making a decision

(Haron, Paim, and Yahaya, 2005). In particular,

individuals generally do not like and tend to prevent

circumstances where they have limited information to

guide their actions and this is where confusion may

rise. This explains why some people may prefer not

to implement sustainable practices such as engaging

in 3R because they do not know enough about 3R.

Nevertheless, past researchers have warned that

although knowledge of 3R is an essential mandatory

for environmental action, the extent to which its

impact can be challenged because first of all, certain

daily environmental support activities such as energy

saving or household waste reduction can be achieved

as a habit that does not involve environmental

understanding (Haron, Paim, and Yahaya, 2005).

Secondly, measured environmental knowledge may

be irrelevant to environmental action samples.

Specifically, some previous researchers discovered

knowledge of species and ecological ideas does not

influence day-to-day environmental action, while

knowledge or abilities associated such as

understanding of how to reduce, reuse and recycle

environmental behaviour study, has little impact. This

is consistent with the findings that conservation

behaviours are most predictable by knowledge.

2.3 Social Pressure

Implementation of 3R is a behaviour that requires at

least some of the long-term benefits and

internationalization of accrued benefits to

individuals, their families, their communities and the

integrity of the global ecosystem. It will be the

justification to include 3R in one's moral principles.

3R implementation is not natural because it requires

focus and appreciation for long term planning, but

humans evolved to be sensitive to short term survival

goals (Ali, & Yusof, 2018).

We propose that people's view has an impact on

their connections with the world and with other

individuals in shaping their views about

environmental issues and their inclination to

participate in eco-friendly behaviours (Hopewell,

Dvorak and Kosior (2009). In particular, because the

benefits derived from eco-friendly behaviour are

future-oriented and it is unlikely to directly benefit

the person doing the behaviour, it is likely that the

basic concepts related to people's perspective on their

ability to influence their future outcomes and desires

to give benefits to others may affect pro-natural

beliefs and behaviours that trigger social pressure to

others who witness a person's behaviour. For

example, they feel social pressure on global issues

and they want to be part of eco-friendly behaviour

that can create positive impacts on others and

themselves. They would feel pressured because

people around them are doing something they

normally do not do like in implementing 3R.

It was found that the basic values of orientation

that individualism, collectivism, and locus of control

are linked to the tendency of the people to engage in

3R (Mccarty, & Shrum, 2001). However, Mccarty &

Shrum (2001) do not expect their pressure on direct

behaviour but more to influence a more specific

psychological construct that is a 3R perspective,

which in turn affects behaviour.

Subjective norms (from the theory of planned

behavior) is about an individual's perception about

the particular behavior, which is influenced by the

judgment of significant others (e.g., parents, spouse,

friends, teachers). Both Park & Ha (2014) and Ali &

Yusof (2018) had found that subjective norms plays a

role in influencing the intention to recycle, which

means that people would feel pressured to recycle

when they are being observed or when they feel there

is certain expectation from somebody important to

them. This is similar to social pressure. Another study

by Tih & Zainol, (2012) also showed that subjective

norms had a positive relationship towards recycling

intention among households in Malaysia.

On the other hand, research in a wide range of

fields has also shown that particular social pressure

often suppresses values-behaviour. Two specific

social pressure constructs that have been

continuously demonstrated in connection with 3R are

general pressure on the implementation of 3R

application and specific pressure on 3R

inconvenience.

EBIC 2019 - Economics and Business International Conference 2019

180

Figure 1: Proposed Conceptual Framework on The

Implementation of 3R among Staff at the PMC

3 METHODOLOGY

A set of structured questionnaire was developed in

order to achieve the research objectives.

Operationalizing the concepts resulted the

development of 52 items on a five-point numerical

scale ranged from 1 (strongly disagree) to 5 (strongly

agree). The questionnaire was divided into five

sections; profiles of the respondents, implementation

of 3R, environmental attitudes, knowledge of 3R and

social pressure. The Statistical Package for Social

Science (SPSS) version 23 is used to analyse the data.

3.1 Sampling Technique and Data

Collection

The target population was 400 employees of the

selected PMC. If the population size is 400, the

suggested sample size is 196 (Sakaran, 2006). Since

the study executed a convenience sampling

technique, the researcher decided to distribute 201

questionnaire and optimist to get at least 196

completed questionnaires. Fortunately, the

researchers rigorously managed to personally

administer the questionnaires by optimizing the 201

samples.

4 ANALYSIS AND RESULTS

4.1 Reliability analysis

Table 1: Cronbach’s Alpha of Variables.

Reliability Statistic for Actual Test

Variables

Cronbach’s

ha N. of items

Environmental Attitude 0.893 14

Knowled

e of 3R 0.861 11

Social Pressure 0.858 13

lementation of 3R 0.904 14

Table 1 shows the results of reliability analysis for

actual test. The result indicates that environmental

attitudes, knowledge of 3R and social pressure had

very good strength of associations with the

Cronbach’s Alpha value of 0.893, 0.861 and 0.858

respectively. Thus the results proved that all items in

the questionnaire were reliable for further analysis

4.2 Correlation Analysis

Table 2: Correlation Analysis

Correlation Analysis

Environmental

attitudes

Knowledge

of 3R

Social

ressure

Implementation

of 3R

Pearson

Correlation

0.891 0.875 0.849

Significant 0.000 0.000 0.000

201 201 201

** Correlation is si

nificant at the 0.01 level

(

2-tailed

)

Table 2 shows the result of Pearson Correlation.

The associations of all independent variables with

dependent variable were strong as the r-value for

environmental attitude, knowledge of 3R and social

pressure were 0.891, 0.875 and 0.849 respectively. As

stated by Salkind (2006), correlation between 0.6 and

0.8 are said to be strong. All relationships were

significant (p = 0.000 < 0.05) at 0.01 significant level.

Thus hypotheses 1 to 3 were supported and

objective 1 is achieved.

4.3 Multiple Linear Regression

Analysis

Table 3: Model Summary of Multiple Regression

Model R R Square Adjusted R

Square

Std. Error of the

Estimate

0.921

0.849 0.846 0.29157

a. Predictors: (Constant), MeanSP, MeanK3R, MeanEA

Refer to Table 3, the adjusted R square was 0.846.

The former table indicates that environmental

attitude, knowledge of 3R and social pressure

explained 84.6% of the variance towards the

purchasing performance. The other 15.4% would be

explained by unidentified factor(s).

Implementation of 3R among Staff at the Petroleum Management Company

181

Table 4: Coefficients

Model

Unstandardiz

Coefficients

Standard

ized

Coefficie

nts

t Sig.B

Std.

Erro

Beta

(Constant)

-.030 .109 -.270 .787

Env. Attitudes

.408 .067 .398 6.105 .000

Knowledge of 3R

.346 .066 .318 5.225 .000

Social Pressure

.247 .052 .254 4.720 .000

Table 4 shows that the three variables namely

environmental attitudes, knowledge of 3R and social

pressure have the Beta value of 0.398, 0.318, and

0.254 respectively. This result indicates that

environmental attitudes have a higher Beta value that

provides a strong evidence of being the factor

influences the implementation of 3R. Therefore,

objective 2 is achieved.

5 CONCLUSIONS AND

DISCUSSION

All the objectives and hypotheses were achieved and

verified. Based on the result obtained, all the

independent variables have strong and significant

relationships with the implementation of 3R among

staff. However, all the independent variables only

explained 84.6% of the variance towards the

implementation of 3R. Thus, when we went in-depth

for each independent variable, those three variables

would significantly contribute to the implementation

of 3R with the p-value less than 0.05. Therefore, the

most influential factor towards the implementation of

3R among staff at the selected PMC was

environmental attitudes with the highest beta value of

0.398.

Since the environmental attitudes contributed the

highest value in influencing the implementation of

3R, PMC need to reinforce the readiness of their staff

to learn and to execute the 3R at their workplace.

Moreover, PMC can enhance the staff responsibility

towards 3R by organizing the awareness programs or

any other activities that can make 3R be part of their

daily life.

Lastly, it is recommended for future research to

study on other factors that represent another 15.4% of

other variance towards implementation of 3R. In

order to increase the generalizability of the findings,

future researchers can extend this study to other PMC

in other states so that many different points of view

will be obtained.

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