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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.

This chapter provides information on the development of Vietnamese education under the influence of global forces based on the analysis of relevant education research and policies using Wolhuter’s frameworks. In the process of coming up with ways to develop education in the face of different influences of globalization, besides having reactions with patterns commonly found in countries around the world, Vietnam also has responses that reflect its own political, sociocultural and economic characteristics. The state still plays a controlling role in education at all levels and many culture-related features that have existed throughout the country’s history have hardly changed, namely aspects related to teachers, learners and teaching and learning methods. To sustain its education in the globalized era, Vietnam must make more efforts in various aspects such as the link between education and employment, the logic of education objectives, the feasibility and appropriateness of curricula, quality of education, especially of higher education and equality in education for underprivileged groups.

This study explores the impacts of COVID-19's strictest lockdown on Vietnamese citizens' living habits, wellbeing and work-from-home effectiveness.

The study uses a survey questionnaire to gather relevant data from Vietnamese adults during the most recent, strictest lockdown in their cities/provinces since July 2021. The study employs ordinal regression and mediation models to examine the effects of the strict lockdown difficulties on the changes in living habits, wellbeing and work effectiveness of Vietnamese respondents.

The empirical result demonstrates that the strictest lockdown adversely affected the living habits of Vietnamese citizens, thus impacting people's wellbeing. Work-from-home lockdown difficulties led to unexpected health issues that bring produce lower working effectiveness.

This is the first study to investigate the changes in citizens' living habits, health and working conditions in adherence to Vietnam's strictest COVID-19 lockdown. This is also the first study to examine the impacts of lockdown difficulties on human wellbeing with the mediating effect of changes in living habits, and the influence of work-from-home lockdown difficulties on work effectiveness, with the mediating effect of lower wellbeing based on the literature. Our study suggests solutions to improve Vietnamese people's health and working productivity during and after a strict lockdown.

This study aims to examine how disruptive and incremental innovations mediate the link between corporate social responsibility (CSR) and financial performance from a dynamic capability perspective. Moreover, this study uncovers the moderating effect of business type on the CSR–innovation relationship.

The authors conduct a quantitative research design through surveying 536 managers of enterprises in Vietnam.

The findings show the crucial mediating effect of disruptive innovation on the CSR–financial performance link. The authors observe that the influence of CSR on incremental innovation is stronger for state-owned businesses.

These findings offer valuable insights for firms aiming to align their CSR strategies with financial objectives and enhance their dynamic capabilities to drive innovation in rapidly changing business environment.

Focusing on micro-level indicators, we investigate financial inclusion levels in rural China, examining its determinants and impact on household welfare. We construct a financial inclusion index of four essential financial services: savings, digital payments, credit and insurance. We identify factors influencing financial inclusion among Chinese rural households and assess the effects of financial inclusion on household welfare.

With the entropy method, we use data from the 2019 China Household Finance Survey to assess financial inclusion levels in rural China. Determinants and their impact on welfare are analyzed through probit and ordinary least squares models, respectively. Propensity scoring matching is applied to address potential endogeneity.

We reveal that rural households exhibit limited usage of formal financial services, with notable regional disparities. The eastern region enjoys the highest financial inclusion and the central region lags behind. Household characteristics such as family size, education level of the household head, income, employment status and financial literacy significantly influence financial inclusion. Financial inclusion positively impacts household welfare as indicated by household consumption expenditure. The use of different types of financial services is crucial with varying but significant effects on household welfare.

This study offers valuable insights into China’s rural financial inclusion progress, highlighting potential barriers and guiding government actions.

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

The search for luxurious hospitality experiences increasingly coincides with the imperative to mitigate negative impacts in the pursuit of greater sustainability. This is a task often understood as being complex particularly in the context of luxury hospitality which often resonates with conspicuous consumption. This chapter uses a case study approach to analyze the complex relationship between luxury tourism and sustainability. The study focuses on the development of “luxury” from a materialistic perspective toward an experience economy and relates this to the concept of sustainability and agreements relevant to the tourism industry. The environmental impact of luxury hospitality is then discussed. The case study on properties in Costa Rica, South Africa, the Maldives, Vietnam, and French Polynesia focuses on philosophy, facilities, energy and waste consumption, food and beverage, conservational and educational activities, and alignment to the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (UN SDGs). The focus is on the properties and shows limitations in that it is not applicable to the whole tourist journey and experience. All properties understand luxury as based on experiences and involvement in nature. Measures to mitigate environmental impact and foster conservational and educational activities are mainstream practices. Comparing the cases with academic literature on luxury, sustainability, ecotourism, and environmental policies underline that sustainability-driven luxury hospitality shows valuable steps toward a more sustainable product but is ultimately faced with the dilemma of taking into consideration and ultimately mitigating the impacts of the entire travel value chain.

The chapter explored the critical components, challenges, and technological advancements in construction supply chain management (CSCM), focusing on stealth construction (STC). It delved into STC encompassing nature, highlighting its unique challenges in its supply chain management and the necessity for adaptive technologies. It further discussed the benefits of tailoring supply chain management specifically for STC, emphasising the importance of developing the building’s cross-section, managing visibility, controlling energy transmission, and implementing countermeasures. Practical applications of CSCM in STC are also examined. This chapter sheds light on the complexities of managing supply chains in STC contexts and offers insights into strategies and technologies to address these challenges effectively.

This research aims to adopt competitiveness theory to analyse the effects of leadership competencies on the competitiveness of small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in the tourism sector.

This research collected data from 200 participants, who are in management positions of tourism SMEs in Vietnam. Structural equation modelling was applied.

The results indicate satisfactory reliability and validity of the constructs and support for two models within a structural equation modelling to evaluate the influence of leadership competencies on the competitiveness of SMEs. The data from both customers and competitors show that the competitiveness and the performance of the enterprise are affected by hands-on experience; relationships building competencies; strategic vision; operations management competencies. Furthermore, customers also value professional knowledge of the enterprises' leaders.

The study suggests that the government agencies and tourism SMEs themselves should focus more on leadership. Training courses, exchange programs, seminars and workshops should be provided for SMEs leaders to improve their leadership competencies.

The research findings provide a more comprehensive view of internal and external factors affecting the competitiveness of SMEs in the tourism sector in Vietnam. This also contributes to competitiveness and leadership research by presenting the positive linkage between leadership competencies and the competitiveness of SMEs.

Unsustainable logging and illegal logging for domestic and international trade and trafficking continue to lead to deforestation. It is crucial that Sustainable Development Goal 15 ‘Sustainably manage forests, combat desertification, halt and reverse land degradation, halt biodiversity loss’ is achieved to maintain the livelihoods of people and protect the planet. This is the case in Vietnam as well, where many people, including indigenous groups, rely on the forest for their survival. Drawing on semistructured interviews in Vietnam and a literature review, we investigate how the abuse of forest policies leads to human insecurity. From this, we propose solutions to (1) end unsustainable harvesting and illegal logging (SDG 15.7), (2) integrate the value of forests (culturally and economically) into national and local planning, the development process and poverty elimination strategies (SDG 15.9) and (3) improve the use of forest protection funding provided by international donors.