Exploring socioeconomic and political feasibility of aviation biofuel production and usage in Malaysia: A thematic analysis approach using expert opinion from aviation industry

Abstract

Aviation biofuel, which is derived from renewable feedstocks, is typically seen as being fundamentally sustainable. However, a variety of industries are involved in its creation, and several societal actors are involved as well. Therefore, it is crucial to comprehend and assess not just the process's consequences on the environment but also its economic and political ones. Studies examining the social and political implications of aviation biofuel are now uncommon in scholarly literature. The aim of this study, therefore, is to assess key effects of economic, social and politics in aviation biofuel production and usage in aviation industry in Malaysia. This paper addresses this gap by investigating the issues with pertaining to economic, social, and political effects of using biofuels in aviation, usage, adoption, and challenges in aviation industries. A grounded theory approach in qualitative data analysis was used to examine 20 interviews with experts of varying roles and experiences in aviation. Semi-structured were used to interview experts to answer, respond to or comment on them in a way that they think best. Discourse analysis method was used for data collection and analysed using thematic analysis. A total of 21 themes were identified with the first dataset (socioeconomic feasibility) had 16 themes and second dataset (political feasibility) had a total of 5 themes. The study revealed that experts had mixed reactions on the adoption level of biofuels in the aviation industry with most of them indicating that the level of adoption of biofuels in Malaysian aviation industry is high.