Amalan hijau dalam kalangan usahawan wanita: kajian kes di Negeri Kedah Darul Aman

In stabilising global warming, greenhouse gas emission needs to be reduced by 50% upon the year 2100. The Women and Environment sector through the Women Development Action Plan in the National Women Policy has been given attention to sustain the growth of green practices in the industry including Small and Medium
Enterprises (SME). Kedah Darul Aman is the eighth largest state with SME distribution in Malaysia with 11, 832 (24.2%) owned by women. Previous study revealed that 67.2% of housewives in the state of Kedah Darul Aman are prone to environmental welfare and have the potential to implement green practices. Does this imply 24.2% of these women entrepreneurs? The exploration is important, but the number of women practicing it in the business is still unknown. The objectives of this study are to explore the level of green practice; to identify factors that influence entrepreneurs in practicing or not; and further suggest guidelines on how the government can promote green practices. The exploratory case study is conducted in a semi-structured interview of five women entrepreneurs based on the purposive sampling method. The data was analyzed using the content analysis method through the analytic category development tool and category analysis review. The findings of the study found that the applicability of green
practice of respondents is closely related to the type of business, the popularity and acceptance. The respondents were found to be incapable of taking additional initiatives to implement green practices that were not business-related or difficult to implement.
Women entrepreneurs practice green by expecting returns to themselves (cost or income) and others (environmental or welfare). However, they do not practice green due to entrepreneurial capacity (knowledge, awareness and time) and external factors (support system). Therefore, the guidelines needed should focus on the spreading of awareness, enforcement by the government, early exposure practices, effective communication and incentives to practitioners.