Nhat Minh Tran

The purpose of this study is first to examine the impact of family control on SMEs’ corporate social responsibility (CSR) performance and, second, investigate how the proportion of female managers in the top management team (TMT) is related to CSR performance in family versus nonfamily SMEs. To answer these questions, we use panel data of manufacturing SMEs from the database of UNU-WIDER over a period from 2011 to 2015 and run fixed effect regressions. Our findings indicate that first, nonfamily SMEs outperform family ones in terms of CSR performance; second, similar to the previous idea, we find a significant and positive relationship between the increasing presence of female managers in the TMT and CSR practices. However, we also find that this positive relationship only occurs with nonfamily SMEs and not with family SMEs. This paper focuses specifically on Vietnamese SMEs and CSR performance. It tests the impact of family ownership on this relationship, as well as the moderating effect of this ownership on the role of female managers in promoting CSR performance.

This research aims to examine the influence of chairperson/CEO demographic characteristics on the level of cooperatives’ the environmental performance of Vietnamese cooperatives, based on Upper Echelon Theory. To measure environmental performance levels, this study uses energy consumption levels (electricity) to test the hypotheses. A sample of 1,508 cooperatives (from 2014 to 2016) has been used to carry out the OLS regression model, controlling for year and industry fixed effects. This study shows that the relationship between a chairperson’s educational level and electricity consumption is negative and significant (decreasing energy consumption). A similar finding is also found with CEO duality, which supports the negative nexus with electricity used. In addition, no significant association was found between chairperson/CEO gender and energy consumption level, whereas the relationship with a chairpersons’ age is positive. Drawing from Upper Echelon Theory, the current research provides novel insights into the relationships between chairpersons/CEOs’ characteristics and the cooperatives’ environmental performance. From practical implication, since cooperatives are a relatively common type of business in the rural areas of Vietnam and environmental protection is quite essential, it is necessary for cooperatives to choose suitable chairpersons/CEO based on their demographic characteristics. JEL: G30, K32, M14

One of the approaches to assessing the organizational culture is to understand its effect on management functions, including the quality of accounting information systems. However, empirical studies about the influences of organizational culture on accounting information system quality, especially in the context of emerging countries like Vietnam, where accounting information is not reliable enough for decision making, have not yet provided enough evidence to confirm this relationship. This paper aims to investigate the effect of innovative organizational culture on the quality of accounting information systems by using the Structural Equation Model. A questionnaire was sent to the CEO, CFO, managers, and accounting staff of non-financial enterprises in Vietnam. With 649 valid respondents, the two-step approach was carried out, including exploratory factor analysis and confirmatory factor analysis and examining the significance of the coefficient through a path analysis. Our findings identified that organizational culture is an essential factor in enhancing the quality of accounting information systems of Vietnamese firms. Implementing an innovative corporate culture will improve system quality and information quality of the accounting information systems that help accounting information more sufficient for making decisions.

Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to investigate the factors affecting Vietnamese consumers' intention and behavior towards “bringing your own shopping bags” (BYOB) instead of using plastic bags based on the theory of interpersonal behavior (TIB).Design/methodology/approach: We used a combination of in-depth interview and large-scale survey methods with the official research sample of 536 Vietnamese consumers to explore the relationship among factors in the research model including: attitude, affect, social factor, facilitating conditions, intention and behavior towards BYOB instead of using plastic bags. The collected data went through quantitative analysis steps including Cronbach's Alpha reliability test, exploratory factor analysis (EFA), confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) and structural equation modeling (SEM) for scales and hypotheses testing.Findings: The results show that intention towards BYOB has a positive effect on consumers' behavior towards BYOB. Facilitating conditions have a stronger and more positive influence than attitude and affect intention towards BYOB. Meanwhile, the hypothesis about the relationship between social factors and intention towards BYOB was rejected by this study.Research limitations/implications: The main limitation of this paper is that the findings of the present study are limited to elements of the TIB.Practical implications: Based on the results of the study, we made some suggestions for state management agencies and retailers to promote intention and behavior towards BYOB instead of using plastic bags.Originality/value: This study applies the TIB to understand the relationship between factors such as attitude, affect, social factors and facilitating conditions on intention and behavior towards BYOB instead of using plastic bags.

Empirical evidence, regarding the impacts of female leadership on firm’s corrupt level, is lack of studies in various research context. The objective of this study is to assess whether female managers impact negatively or positively on the corrupt behavior of family SMEs (household business) and nonfamily SMEs (Small and Medium-sized Enterprises). To do that, this paper used regressions, taken from a sample of 1,720 Vietnamese SMEs (based on the survey data of UNU-WIDER), to compare the impact of female percentage in management board in family and nonfamily businesses in reducing the level of corruption of the firms for the period 2011 to 2015.The findings indicated that first, drawing on socioemotional wealth theory and Vietnam context, family SMEs (household businesses) are more likely to engage in corruption. Second, we also found that female participant in management team can promote firms to be less involved in unethical practices such as bribe. However, the positive role of female managers in reducing corruption engagement is moderated by family control. We used upper echelon theory to suggest that female managers tend to have less managerial discretion in family-controlled organizations. This study has practical contributions, especially for policymakers and owners of household businesses.

Analysing the nexus between board diversity, CEO power, state holding, and corporate social responsibility disclosure in an emerging country: Vietnam, where some listed firms are held significantly by the State, is the fundamental objective of this study. In order to achieve this goal, we employed regression analysis using panel data. While board diversity consists of board gender diversification and board independence and CEO (executive) power, consisting of executive duality, executive holding (ownership), and deputy CEO, and state ownership are explanatory variables, and CSR disclosure is a dependent variable. The sample contains of 166 Vietnamese listed firms at the Hanoi Stock Exchange (HNX) for 2014−2016. After performing regression analysis, the result revealed that the proportion of female directors, deputy CEO, and state holding had a significant correlation with CSR publication. In contrast, the proportion of independent directors, CEO duality, and CEO ownership was found to be insignificant. Our research adds to the research on firm governance and CSR in several approaches. First, the paper adds to the study on the advancement of research toward corporate social responsibility and firm governance and CEO features impress on it. Second, our research expands CSR literature in developing countries, which has not been treated in detail. Fourth, this research advances and adds literature to some theories, including agency theory and resource-based view theory.