A Proposed Model of Green Tax Acceptance Model: The Institutional Approach

Climate change, natural resource depletion, and pollution have a major impact on the environment, social and economy for current and future generations. Green tax policy is designed not only to preserve the environment but also to motivate green growth activities among companies, individuals, and communities. However, the green tax policy in Malaysia is based on tax incentives only and not tax penalty. There is evidence that shows that the incentives based are not fully aware and not being part of companies’ strategies for environmental sustainability. Thus, the need for environmental practices in the manufacturing firms, particularly in the area of green tax, is becoming crucial. Previous studies found that coercive, mimetic, and normative pressures influence the implementation of green practices, but still in doubt whether the pressures also influence the acceptance of the green tax. This study applied the Institutional Theory to explore and explain the role of institutional pressures (coercive, mimetic, and normative pressures) in the development of a green tax acceptance model across the manufacturing firm. If the proposed green tax acceptance framework is validated, the findings will provide important insight to policymakers, practitioners, academicians, tax authorities, and other regulatory authorities in policy formulations and evaluation. Specifically, the findings will contribute to the development of the green tax policy model, mainly on the penalty-based tax reform and eventually increasing tax revenues and enhancing awareness of the green growth environment.