AN EXPLORATORY STUDY OF THE USAGE OF ELECTRONIC PLATFORM FOR CONSERVATION MARKETING AMONG EDUCATION ENVIRONMENTAL CENTRES (EEC) IN MALAYSIA

With limited funding, conservationists are far from able to assist all threatened species. Even though online marketing has been increasingly used by conservationists to raise funds and awareness on the need to reduce biodiversity loss, the major issue is reaching the target audience and influencing their behaviour, especially if the target audience is a profit-making entity. To date, a comprehensive theoretical investigation on online conservation marketing pertaining business expectation, preferences, experience and satisfaction is still in its infancy and remains unanswered. Therefore, to fulfil this gap, this qualitative study is executed, in which 19 in-depth interviews was adopted until data saturation is achieved. The participants are those who worked in relationship marketing field and have experienced online conservation marketing activities. The study explores and profiles the experiences and satisfaction of businesses based on their previous online conservation marketing and the expectation and preferences of businesses for future online conservation marketing. Based on the research findings, even before the first Covid-19 outbreak in Malaysia, many businesses in the country were involved in at least one online conservation marketing strategy with an Environmental Education Centre (EEC) and many were satisfied with the EEC online marketing strategies and services. However, most businesses have less expectations and low preferences towards the future online conservation marketing by the EEC. This study assists conservation organisations in retaining the financial support from businesses and enhancing public conservation awareness through businesses. This study is aligned with Malaysia National Key Economic Areas (NKEA) no 4, under Entry Point Project 4 (EPP 4) and also NKEA no 6, under EPP 12.