Conceptualizing Values as Point of Departures in Penetrating Market Adopters of Green High-Tech Product

Malaysia National Green Technology Policy accentuates improvement in the area of energy,. building, water and waste management and transportation. However moving to Renewable Energy (energy), Low Carbon Model Town (building) and purchasing Electric Vehicle (transportation) are behavior related to sustainable energy consumption that typically infrequently happens in an individual's life. Discovering the actual and potential customer is more difficult if there is constant fluctuation. Therefore, we focused on development of trends that enable predictions of the future use of these new green-tech product. We focus on personal values to characterize consumers because it has been shown that they impact purchase decisions. Personal values assessed with Schwartz's Portrait Value Questionnaire (PVQ) mediated with three stable groups: 1. LOHAS (those pursuing a Lifestyle of Health and Sustainability), 2. Traditionalists and 3. Career oriented. By referring to Mohr's 5 (five) diffusion of innovation model: the tendency of adopters who are likely purchasing those high tech green product are assessed to forecast the feasibility. Negative path to Technology Enthusiast and Visionaries denote no market. However if these two niches are found, it will become the focal point for segmenting the market. The relationship among constructs is assessed with Structural Equation Modelling on 178 Malaysian samples.