In a wake of concern towards sustainable palm oil products, the Malaysian government had continuously formulated various guidelines for palm oil industries in fulfilling the international sustainability requirement. In 2013, Malaysia has launched Malaysian sustainable palm oil (MSPO), which eventually become mandatory requirement in January 2020, including the independent smallholders. However, the numbers of independent smallholders that acquired MSPO was relatively low, stood at 30.66%. Therefore, this study aims to analyse the perceptions of independent smallholders towards MSPO in Malaysia. A structured questionnaire was used for data collection instrument that been distributed among 350 independent smallholders, with a response rate of 74.5%. Results from descriptive analysis showed that independent smallholders have a good perception towards MSPO certification. Furthermore, multiple regression analysis revealed that all three factors were significant to influence the perceptions, where the risk perception became the most important contributor. This study enhances the awareness of sustainability practices among independent smallholders and contributes to the implementation of MSPO certification. Since risk perception has emerged as the primary contributor, regulators or governing bodies must seriously consider risk mitigation concerning independent smallholders about risk exposure such as continuous monitoring to comply environment impact assessment requirement, improve the availability and accessibility of information and aggressive awareness campaign on MSPO.

This study discusses the direct influence of school image and price perception on word of mouth and the decision of parents to choose school children and the indirect effect of school image on parents' decision to choose school children through word of mouth as an intervening variable and the indirect effect of price perception on parents' decision to choose school children through word of mouth as an intervening variable. This research uses path analysis, F test, t test and sobel test. The sampling technique in this study is using the Slovin formula of 194 respondents from 3 school AL Azizi, Al-Amin and Aisyiyah schools in kelurahan Wage, kabupaten Sidoarjo. The results of this study indicate that the school's image has a positive and significant effect on the decision of parents to choose a child's school, the perception of price has a positive and significant effect on the decision of parents to choose a child's school, the school's image has a positive and significant effect on word of mouth, the price perception has a positive and significant effect on word of mouth, word of mouth has a positive and significant effect on the decision of parents to choose school children. In addition there is a significant mediating effect, word of mouth mediates the effect of the school's image on the decision to choose school and there is no mediating effect between the perception of price on the decision of parents to choose a child's school through word of mouth.