Global business entities face the challenge of incremental pressures to restructure their strategic alignments and capabilities to be in accordance with the sustainable development initiatives of the United Nations. This study endeavours to investigate the mediating role of employees’ green motivations in the relationships of environmental ethics, the institutional environment, and managerial support with the green behaviour of companies in the Malaysian food manufacturing industry. Data were collected using a questionnaire survey completed by 230 respondents to achieve the study objectives. The respondents consisted of CEOs, company managers, marketing managers, human resources department managers, concerned authorities from environmental protection departments, and producers in the Malaysian food manufacturing industry. The study found that environmental ethics, the institutional environment and managerial support play significant roles in motivating employees’ green activities within organisations, while employees’ green motivation substantially contributes to the green behaviour of the company. This study also revealed that employees’ green motivation plays an important mediating role in the relationships of environmental ethics, the institutional environment, and managerial support with the green behaviour of the company. The implications of this study will be important for allowing governments to take instantaneous action for their climate change pledges to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) following the Paris Accord of 2015 and the Marrakech Proclamation of 2016.

Using responses from a questionnaire survey conducted on a sample of 400 rice farmers from Kedah in Malaysia, this article examines rice farmers’ perception, awareness, attitudes and adaptation behaviours towards mitigating climate change. The data collected was analysed using structural equation modelling. The findings of this study show that 84% of the respondents perceive a decrease in rainfall, while 75% perceive an increase in temperature over the last 10–15 years due to climate change. The study also finds a significant and positive association between farmers’ perception of climate change, awareness (AWN), attitudes (ATT) and adaptation behaviour (ADB). Furthermore, the results reveal that awareness and attitudes play a mediating role between perception and adaptation behaviour. The findings could be useful to public and private organizations in learning more about farmers’ perceptions and adaptation behaviour in developing a policy framework to reduce adverse effects of climate change.