Search results

This study aims to explore how the three dimensions of karma – karmic duty orientation, indifference to rewards and equanimity – influence empathy and moral obligation, with implications for social economics.

The research was conducted on a valid sample of 401 university students in Vietnam, using hierarchical regression to test formulated hypotheses.

The analysis reveals that karmic duty orientation and indifference to rewards significantly enhance empathy and moral obligation, indicating that individuals with a strong sense of moral duty and intrinsic motivation are more likely to engage in ethical and pro-social behaviors. Equanimity was not found to impact empathy or moral obligation significantly.

Organizations and policymakers should focus on cultivating moral duties, intrinsic motivations and resilience in ethical behavior to promote social responsibility and sustainability and ensure long-term social and economic stability.

This study contributes to social economics by integrating ethical dimensions of karma into the analysis of moral behavior, offering a fresh perspective that challenges traditional economic models centered on self-interest. The research provides a comprehensive framework for understanding how moral principles influence economic decisions and social outcomes.

The peer review history for this article is available at: https://publons.com/publon/10.1108/IJSE-07-2023-0571

This study explores the effect of local budget retention rate changes (RER) on total factor productivity (TFP) and its components in Vietnam.

The study employs a two-system generalized method of moments (GMM) estimator and data from 2012 to 2019 across all 63 provinces/cities of Vietnam.

The study finds that local budget retention rates significantly influence public investment, affecting scale and allocation efficiency. The reallocation of budgets between regions and from the central government to local levels incurs certain costs, often resulting in economically robust provinces experiencing reductions in their retention rates.

Recognizing the challenges of immediate structural budget changes due to cultural and historical factors, the study suggests a more gradual policy approach. It emphasizes the importance of policy predictability, as abrupt reductions in the retention rate lead to higher costs than gradual reductions, thus implementing budget policies with a clearer timeline. This study provides insight into local budget allocation regimes and their impact on productivity in transitioning countries.

First, the study provides fresh evidence of the impact of retention rate changes on TFP and its components in Vietnam. Second, the study provides insights into the mechanisms of the nexus of increased budget spending, capital efficiency and, most importantly, attaining improvement in education. We also offer further insights into inefficient budget allocation agents in Vietnam, especially in large cities, which should alert scholars to explore this topic further in the future.

Of critical concern to the world is the need to reduce consumption and waste of natural resources. This study provides a multi-level exploration of the ways situational and transformational links between levels and challenges are related to the adoption and utilization of material flow cost accounting in Vietnam, to encourage green productivity.

Based on triangulation of public documents at different institutional levels and a set of semi-structured interviews, situational and transformational links and challenges for material flow cost accounting in Vietnam are examined using purposive and snowball sampling of key actors.

Using a multi-level framework the research identifies six situational and transformational barriers to implementation of material flow cost accounting and suggests opportunities to overcome these. The weakest links identified involve macro-to meso-situational and micro-to macro-transformational links. The paper highlights the dominance of meso-level institutions and lack of focus on micro transformation to cut waste and enable improvements in green productivity.

The paper identifies ways for companies in Vietnam to reduce unsustainability and enable transformation towards sustainable management and waste reduction.

The paper is the first to develop and use a multi-level/multi-time period framework to examine the take-up of material flow cost accounting to encourage transformation towards green productivity. Consideration of the Vietnamese case builds understanding of the challenges for achieving United Nations Sustainable Development Goal number 12, to help enable sustainable production and consumption patterns.

This study aims to investigate the institutional, macroeconomic and firm-specific determinants of financial leverage in Vietnam and provides new evidence from the dynamic panel fractional estimator.

This study uses a panel dataset of 859 Vietnamese firms from 2008 to 2022 and employs three estimators: Feasible Generalized Least Squares (FGLS), System Generalized Method of Moments (SysGMM) and Dynamic Panel Fractional (DPF), with DPF being particularly suitable for handling fractional dependent variables and the dynamic nature of financial leverage.

The results confirm the dynamic nature of the financial leverage model, with firm-specific factors, institutional factors and macroeconomic factors playing significant roles in shaping firms' financing decisions. The DPF estimator highlights the positive impact of stock market development on leverage. This study contributes to the literature by providing new evidence on the determinants of leverage in Vietnam, using the DPF estimator for more accurate estimation and revealing the significant impact of the size of the banking sector, the size of the stock market, the stock market development index, the financial development index and the corruption perception index on leverage.

This study contributes to the literature by providing new evidence on the dynamic nature of the financial leverage model and the impact of institutional, macroeconomic and firm-specific factors on financial leverage in the context of Vietnam. The use of the DPF estimator allows for a more accurate and reliable estimation of the determinants of leverage, considering the fractional nature of the dependent variable and the persistence of capital structure decisions over time.

Unlike the design or planning phases, the construction phase necessitates the coordination of multiple project stakeholders, real-time problem-solving and effectively managing physical resources under fluctuating site conditions. However, recent green rating systems are not yet designed to accommodate the unique nature of this stage. Thus, this study aims to develop an empirical measurement model to evaluate the performance of green construction sites (GCS), focusing on the Vietnamese construction industry.

Initially, a list of assessment criteria was identified by reviewing previous studies and semi-structured interviews. After that, a questionnaire survey was used to collect practitioners’ views regarding GCS performance. The 155 valid responses were analyzed employing the fuzzy synthetic evaluation (FSE) method.

The findings showed that the performance of GCS in Vietnam is at a moderate level, with a GCS index of 5.48. Indeed, the human-related factor was the most significant performance group for GCS in Vietnam. Construction site, energy, innovation and material-related factors were among the average performance factors. Moreover, water and waste-related factors were among the lowest performance factors.

This study highlights the importance of human-related factors, such as worker safety and environmental training, in achieving effective GCS performance. It is recommended that governments should enforce stricter guidelines on using low-embodied carbon materials, sustainable sourcing and effective waste management to improve GCS performance. Neighboring countries can also use valuable insights from this study to enhance their GCS performance.

This study aims to explore how ephemeral content marketing enhances brand love and customer engagement, with a focus on the mediating role of brand authenticity, self-brand connection and advertising value.

This research was conducted using a quantitative method through an online questionnaire with a sample of 728 in Vietnam, analyzing data by using the partial least squares structural equation modeling model.

This study evaluates ephemeral content marketing through six dimensions: entertainment, trendiness, informativeness, interactivity, aesthetic quality and perceived relevance. The findings indicate positive mediating roles of advertising value, self-brand connection and brand authenticity on the impact of ephemeral content marketing on brand love and customer engagement.

This study provides a comprehensive model of factors affecting consumer perceptions of ephemeral content marketing, which can help businesses to proactively formulate strategic responses for consumers on social media platforms with ephemeral content features. This also allows them to precisely target their audience, avoiding ineffective and costly advertising efforts on social media when content quality is lacking.

This research sheds light on the six essential dimensions of effective ephemeral content that adds value to customers, ultimately leading to their love and active engagement. This substantial addition to the field of social media marketing opens up possibilities for further investigation of the dynamics across different forms of social media marketing, such as short-form videos or in various contexts such as tourism, fashion, food products and education, particularly in the context of ephemeral content in emerging markets such as Vietnam.

This study aims to combine two theories, the Theory of Planned Behaviour (TPB) and the Norm Activation Model (NAM), to investigate the relationship between the awareness of reducing single-use plastic waste's environmental cost and the behaviour to limit the use of single-use plastic products (SUPPs) by FPT university students.

Quantitative research methodologies were employed on a sample of 506 university students. The survey data was then examined using SPSS, SPSS AMOS and SmartPLS software.

The overarching conclusion of the study is that awareness of reducing single-use plastic waste's environmental cost has a positive impact on FPT university students' behaviour to reduce their use of single-use plastic products. Another intriguing discovery is how socialisation of responsibility affects pro-environmental behaviour through the interplay between personal norms, subjective norms and behavioural intention.

This study on the relationship between SUPP low-consumption awareness and behaviour and mediating factors is a necessary foundation for future studies related to changing the behaviour of students using SUPPs. That will also be a solid foundation for practical plans to change behaviour using SUPPs through communication campaigns to increase awareness.

Over several decades, the Vietnamese government has gradually reduced funding for public higher education and has implemented a cost-sharing system. As a result, Vietnamese universities have had to look for alternative sources of income. While there is a significant emphasis on the importance of revenue diversification in higher education in Vietnam, there is limited empirical data on financing for Vietnamese higher education. The purpose of this paper, therefore, is to estimate the degree of financial sustainability in Vietnamese universities.

The authors used the Hirschman–Herfindahl Index and multiple regression analysis to assess 134 Vietnamese universities’ financial sustainability between 2013 and 2020.

The results revealed that almost all universities in this study were unsustainable due to their weak financial diversity. The age, type of ownership, location, the ratio of lecturers with PhD degrees and land size can affect the financial diversification level of higher education institutions. Our study highlighted that public universities have better financial health than private universities; institutions in rural areas have higher financial diversification than in big cities.

Suggestions for policymakers and university leaders that may enhance financial sustainability include the adoption of tailored strategies based on the university’s characteristics and missions.

Drawing from agency and comprehension theories, this paper aims to examine the influence of annual report readability (ARR) on financial reporting quality (FRQ), with a focus on how information asymmetry moderates this relationship.

The study uses a sample of 467 listed firms in Vietnam from 2015 to 2021. To analyze the relationship between ARR and FRQ, this paper employs a Generalized Method of Moments (GMM) regression, incorporating information asymmetry as a moderating factor.

The research findings show that ARR has a positive and significant impact on the FRQ of Vietnamese-listed firms. This paper also finds that information asymmetry significantly and partially moderates the relationship between ARR and FRQ. Specifically, ARR can help alleviate the level of information asymmetry and contributes to improved FRQ.

From a practical perspective, this paper provides empirical evidence for managers, investors and related government departments to evaluate the effects of ARR and offers regulators a method to help improve the transparency of the stock market. More importantly, the results of this study have reference value for scholars and practitioners in developing countries like Vietnam.

From a theoretical perspective, our study adds to the growing literature on ARR, expands the scope of ARR research, elaborates on relevant economic consequences of ARR and complements the literature on the determinants of FRQ.

This paper employs data from the World Bank to examine the effect of traditional banks on FinTech and financial development in the Southern African Development Community (SADC) region.

The study employs the Generalized Method of Moments (GMM) as the primary data analysis method.

The findings of the study demonstrate a bi-directional relationship between traditional financial institutions and FinTech. Traditional financial institutions are observed to facilitate the adoption of FinTech solutions, whilst the disruptive effects of FinTech incentivize traditional banks to adapt to the changing financial landscape and tailor their service and product offerings to reflect recent technological advancements. Consequently, there exists a positive relationship between traditional financial institutions and financial development in the SADC region.

Our findings suggest the need for market liberalization and enhanced institutional quality controls for policymakers. Traditional banks must adapt their business models and incorporate FinTech solutions to remain competitive and relevant. Collaborative partnerships between traditional banks and FinTech firms have emerged as a practical approach to leverage the strengths of both sectors.

This is one of the first studies to examine the role of traditional financial institutions in FinTech and financial development using GMM in the SADC region.