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COVID-19 hits every country’s health-care system and economy. There is a trend toward using automation technology in response to the COVID-19 crisis not only in developed countries but also in those with lower levels of technology development. However, current studies mainly focus on the world level, and only a few ones report deployments at the country level. The purpose of this paper is to investigate the use of automation solutions in Vietnam with locally available materials mainly in the first wave from January to July 2020.

The authors collected COVID-related automation solutions during the first wave of COVID-19 in Vietnam from January to July 2020 through a search process. The analysis and insights of a panel consisting of various disciplines (i.e. academia, health care, government, entrepreneur and media) aim at providing a clear picture of how and to what extent these solutions have been deployed.

The authors found seven groups of solutions from low to high research and development (R&D) levels deployed across the country with various funding sources. Low R&D solutions were widely spread owing to simplicity and affordability. High R&D solutions were mainly deployed in big cities. Most of the solutions were deployed during the first phases when international supply chains were limited with a significant contribution of the media. Higher R&D solutions have opportunities to be deployed in the reopening phase. However, challenges can be listed as limited interdisciplinary research teams, market demand, the local supporting industry, end-user validation and social-ethical issues.

To the authors’ best knowledge, this is the first study analyzing the use of automation technology in response to COVID-19 in Vietnam and also in a country in Southeast Asia. Lessons learned from these current deployments are useful for future emerging infectious diseases. The reality of Vietnam’s automation solutions in response to COVID-19 might be a reference for other developing countries with similar social-economic circumstances and contributes to the global picture of how different countries adopt technology to combat COVID-19.

Promoting dark tourism among Gen Z tourists is an important socio-economic strategy that offers significant economic and educational benefits to dark tourism site organizations and society at large. Upon the motivational approach, this research aims to examine the motivations that drive Gen Z’s intention to visit dark tourism places and the sources of those motives.

Drawn from classical motivational theories in psychology and consumer research, this study treats dark experience as outcome-focused motivation, engaging experience as process-focused motivation and emotional solidarity as self-concept motivation. Based on the expectancy-value model and optimal-arousal theory, the authors further investigate the roles of perceived destination image, social media marketing efforts and e-word of mouth (e-WOM) in influencing such motivations. The conceptual model was tested based on quantitative data from 545 Gen Z potential travellers.

The findings indicate that the motivations for both dark experiences and engaging experiences are influenced by EWOM and both cognitive and affective destination images. In addition, eWOM also demonstrates a strong influence on emotional solidarity. Meanwhile, marketing efforts of dark tourism sites through social media show no impact on the dark experience motivation and a weak effect on the motive of engaging experience and emotional solidarity. Although all three motivations, including dark experience, engaging experience and emotional solidarity, significantly and positively drive intention to visit dark tourism sites, the impact of engaging experience is the weakest.

This research provides a fresh perspective in explaining the intention to visit a destination in general and a dark tourism site in particular while providing insights into the impacts of various marketing stimuli on visiting intention – from the motivational approach.

Modernization and the rise of living standards have introduced new variants of traditional foods, from their tastes to the way they are enjoyed. This study aims to explore and examine the impacts of both traditional and modern marketing stimuli on restaurant choice intention for experiencing culinary traditions, hence answering the question of how traditional and modern aspects live together to bring about the most desirable experience for customers of traditional cuisine.

Based on the stimuli-organism-response (S-O-R) theory and mixed research methods, a model linking service quality dimensions, perceived value and restaurant choice intention is formulated and tested on quantitative data from 431 customers of Gen Y and Gen Z, given the case of Vietnamese Pho.

The findings show that food quality demonstrates the strongest impact on restaurant choice intention, followed by authenticity and nostalgia marketing. These relationships are partially mediated by perceived value. Hygiene risks and perceived value are also found to directly affect restaurant choice intention. Nevertheless, our findings are quite different between Gen Y and Gen Z customers.

This research provides crucial strategic implications for restaurant managers when it comes to serving traditional foods for different generations.

This study responds to the existing gap by examining and comparing the impacts of traditional and modern marketing stimuli on restaurant choice intention through the mediating role of perceived value. Our study also actively contributes to the ongoing multigenerational research stream by affirming the moderation role of generations (Gen Y and Gen Z) in those relationships.

Travel destinations worldwide are seeking smart ways to reduce the negative impact of tourism, and the public bike rental service (PBRS) is one of them. To investigate the usage intention of this service among visitors, the author of this research employs an integrated approach consisting of two psychological frameworks: the Norm Activation Model (NAM) and the Technology Acceptance Model (TAM).

The integrated NAM-TAM model is implemented to conduct a survey (sample n = 777) with visitors to Hanoi, Danang, and Ho Chi Minh City regarding the factors underlying their intentions to continue using the PBRS TNGo.

Structural equation models suggested that: (1) the NAM-TAM can explain behavioural intention to use a smart PBRS. Perceived Usefulness (PU), Perceived Ease of Use (PE), and Awareness of Consequences (AC) have positive and significant impacts on Attitude Towards Using (AT) and, thus, on Behavioural Intention to Use (BI). Also, Personal Norms (PN) positively influence BI. (2) Among the four independent variables, tourists' AC produces the most potent effect on the intention to continue using a PBRS.

This study can start a new research direction of combining the NAM with other theoretical frameworks to explain customer behaviour in the field of sustainable tourism practices. Future research should explore the proposed model based on comparisons of different tourists’ backgrounds, including nationality, length of stay, spending level, visiting purpose, etc.

This research provides strategic implications for destination management organisations in boosting the use of PBRS amongst tourists, contributing to the environmental sustainability targets of the tourism industry.

This study responds to the existing gap by examining both functional value (indicated by PU and PE) and perceived environmental/social value (proxied by AC) in forming tourists’ attitudes towards PBRS and their usage intention. Our study, therefore, actively contributes to the research stream of tourist behaviour in the field of sustainable tourism practices from the altruistic behavioural perspective.

Upgrading in global value chains (GVCs) has become a crucial strategy for enhancing competitive advantage and attaining higher profitability, especially among firms in developing countries. Drawn from the sociological approach, this study treats GVC upgrading as an entrepreneurial act and examines factors affecting firms' intention to move up in their chains based on the theory of planned behavior. The authors also further test the moderating effects of firms' knowledge about rule of origin and governmental supports on the intention-behavior gap.

In-depth interviews with eight Vietnamese business managers were implemented to support the development of hypotheses and measurement scales. Afterwards, the authors conducted a survey on decision-makers of 402 Vietnamese firms which currently have export-import activities to collect quantitative data for testing the hypothesized relationships.

The empirical results indicate that both attitudes, behavioral control and social norms have significant positive impacts on the intention to upgrade in GVCs. In turn, such intention could further activate actual behaviors to move up in their chains. However, those who have better knowledge about rule of origin and receive governmental supports either in terms of finance, credit or technology have a higher probability of demonstrating actual behavior to upgrade in GVCs once their intentions are formed than those who do not.

This research provides valuable implications for policymakers in accelerating firms' actions to upgrade within their chains, hence, actively enhancing not only organizational performance but also significantly contributes to the national economic development.

While most of the previous studies examine the preconditions for firms to participate and upgrade in their GVCs, there is limited attention on determinants of firms' own intention and actual behavior to upgrade in their chains once they have participated in the GVC. Specifically, this research not only contributes to the existing knowledge regarding factors affecting firms' intention to upgrade in their chains but also closes the gap between the intention and the actual GVC upgrading behavior.

This paper seeks to revisit the interrelationship among tourists’ perceived value of the destination, tourist satisfaction and destination loyalty in the heritage tourism site of Hoi An. In addition, the moderating role of tourists’ perceived crowding, which has become remarkably common at the site, in such a triangle relationship will also be explored. In other words, this study aims to validate an extended model of perceived value – tourist satisfaction – destination loyalty – perceived crowding.

The study collects data from 403 tourists who visited Hoi An during peak season through an online questionnaire. The data were later analysed using AMOS and Warp partial least squares.

The results validate the significant and positive correlation among perceived value, customer satisfaction and destination loyalty. Also, perceived crowding was confirmed to affect the relationship among these three variables negatively. In terms of academic contributions, this paper empirically proved that low levels of tourist satisfaction and destination loyalty among tourists who highly value their visiting experience at World Heritage Sites (WHS) can be caused by perceived crowding.

So far, current literature has investigated the direct (either positive or negative) relationship between perceived crowding and post-visit behaviours of tourists (Nie et al., 2022; Papadopoulou, Ribeiro, & Prayag, 2023; Stemmer, Gjerald, & Øgaard, 2022). Broadening this area of research, the authors of this paper used the social interference theory and the stimulus-overload theory to explain the low level of tourist satisfaction and destination loyalty among tourists who highly value their visiting experience at WHS.

This paper aims to analyze the development of global human resource development (HRD) articles published in journals indexed in the Scopus database since 1960s until present time.

A publication collection of 1,905 articles collected from the Scopus database was downloaded and analyzed by using bibliometric techniques available in the VOSviewer and Biblioshiny software.

Three different development stages of HRD research have been identified: a seeding stage between 1962 and 1989, a growth stage between 1990 and 2007 and a development stage from 2008 onward. The USA and the UK were the biggest contributors who participated to 30.02% and 12.55% of articles in the collection and received 43.82% and 19.54% of the total number of citations, respectively. Scholars with the most publications and citations are mostly from the USA and the UK, and nine over ten most cited articles having first author’s affiliation located there. Emerald Group is the most popular publishing house, as five over ten most popular journals belong to this publishing house.

After six decades of development, it is necessary to examine the evolution of HRD research, its characteristics and its intellectual framework as this type of analysis is not yet available in the literature. This study helps scholars better understand this research field, as well as better prepare for future work in HRD.

We respond to the existing gaps regarding the drivers and outcomes of customer experience quality in the context of bank marketing by examining the interrelationships between distinct dimensions of VTM service quality, customer experience quality and customer loyalty.

This research follows the Stimulus-Organism-Response theory to examine the antecedents and behavioural outcomes of customer experience quality during their journeys with video teller machine (VTM) services in the banking industry (also known as LiveBank or SmartBank). First, we conducted in-depth interviews with 34 bank customers to develop distinct measurement scales for customer experience quality and VTM service quality. A structural equation model linking six dimensions of VTM service quality, including tangibles, interaction quality, empathy, reliability, user’s friendliness and efficiency with the affective-sensory and intellectual values of customer experience quality and customer loyalty to VTM service is tested using data obtained from 405 individual customers.

The findings reveal that tangibles, interaction quality, reliability, user-friendliness and efficiency contribute to customer experience quality, which, in turn, drives customers’ intention to use VTM again. This research provides crucial theoretical background and practical implications to accelerate the penetration of VTM among bank customers and hence, foster financial inclusion among societies.

This paper presents the first research that empirically employs the value-based approach to measure customer experience quality in the banking service industry and examine its linkages to service quality and customer loyalty. Moreover, given the emergence of VTM, this is also among the pioneering studies which validate measurement scales for VTM service quality. This could be either reused or revisited for further research about VTM. Overall, our study contributes to the literature about customer retention in the banking service industry from not only the customers’ backwards-looking evaluations of service performance (i.e. service quality) but also their forward-looking evaluations (i.e. their own experience).

The purpose of this paper is to expand the Swiss Index of Customer Satisfaction (SWICS) model by investigating the role of customer dialogue in the interrelationships among customer satisfaction, customer trust, perceived value and customer loyalty upon Vietnam banking industry.

The conceptual framework was developed from both an exploratory research with focus group method and the literature. A structural equation model linking customer dialogue to customer satisfaction, customer trust, perceived value and loyalty is tested using data from a sample of 389 Vietnamese individual bank customers.

The results indicate the key role of customer dialogue in bank marketing since it not only has an independent impact on customer loyalty but also mediates the effect of customer satisfaction on loyalty completely and the relationship between customer trust and loyalty partially. Besides, the central role of customer trust was also highlighted since it mediates totally the effect of perceived value on both of customer dialogue and customer loyalty while explaining partially the path from customer satisfaction and customer dialogue.

First, regarding sample size, the authors have used suitable sampling methods with adequate sample representation. However, a larger sample size with more diverse age range and usage of various banking services may be more helpful and effective for the path analysis and managerial implication. Second, the authors have used only a limited set of measurement items due to the concerns of model parsimony and data collection efficiency. For example, perceived value can be measured upon more detailed dimensions, and yet the author focussed only on some selected measures based mainly on their relevance to the context studied.

The findings imply that building trust and engaging with customers better through communication are keys for Vietnamese commercial banks to gain more customer loyalty in such competitive conditions.

The study is noteworthy that it adds perceived value and customer trust in the SWICS model and investigates the interrelationships between all variables in a single model.

Based on the resource-based view (RBV) and the signaling theory, this paper examines the effect of media reputation on financial performance as well as the moderating role of bank characteristics (risk management and financial capacities) in this relationship, using Vietnamese commercial bank data for the period 2007–2018.

We rely on the agenda-setting theory to measure the media reputation of banks. Return on average equity (ROE) is used as a proxy of financial performance. We regress financial performance on media reputation with fixed effects to control unobserved variables. In addition, the instrumental variable (IV) method is applied to deal with the endogeneity problem. We use the change in bank logo as an IV for media reputation.

We find that media reputation has a positive effect on financial performance. This effect becomes prominent for large banks, listed banks or banks that demonstrate good risk management capacities, and is particularly strong when we control for endogeneity bias. The effect of media reputation on financial performance is transmitted through the non-performing loan (NPL) channel.

The research findings further endorse the positive impact of media reputation on financial performance in the low-quality institutional settings. Moreover, these findings expand the existing knowledge regarding the relationship between media reputation and financial performance by affirming two strategies which could be used to leverage the contribution of media reputation including improving banks' risk management capacities and raising financial capital.

This is the first known paper to examine the effect of media reputation on financial performance in commercial banks in an underdeveloped institutional setting while exploring the moderators in this relationship. This study, therefore, provides insightful implications for different bank segments in managing NPL and taking advantage of media reputation as a potential resource of financial performance.