A Theoretical and Empirical Discussion on Environmental Awareness Issue in Malaysia: Establishing a Viable Research Framework

The very aim of this paper is to pull together the statistics and empirical evidence to highlight the current state of environmental awareness issue in Malaysia. Based on the issue heightened, the problem statement is then crystallized. Empirical and theoretical supports were intertwined to explain and justify as to how the potential variables suggested may contribute to the parsimony of the suggested research framework, particularly in the setting of Malaysia. The variables of interest include a dependent variable, environmental awareness; an independent variable, perceived media coverage; two moderators, namely perceived government role and green value respectively. The originality of this paper lays in the combination of these variables in a sole framework, within the specific setting of Malaysia. Specifically, the discussion and introduction of the two moderators would add to the theoretical and empirical body of knowledge, as both have not been examined as moderators in the extant studies which correlate media coverage and environmental awareness. Another contribution of this paper is the empirically-based suggestion as to why media coverage is better examined from the perspective of the end-user, and not the conventional provider-oriented perspective. In this view, the operationalization of media coverage is one of that oriented on the end-user, hence perceived media coverage. Towards the end, research questions and objectives were formulated to call for earnest empirical examination