The objective of this research paper is to study the simultaneous relationship between fiscal decentralization, corruption, and income inequality among Vietnamese provinces. We use a balanced panel data set of 63 provinces/cities in Vietnam in the period from 2011 to 2018. The study used 3SLS-GMM (Three Stage Least Squares - Generalized Method of Moments estimator) and GMM-HAC (Generalized Method of Moments - Heteroskedastic and Autocorrelation Consistent estimator). Empirical evidence shows a strong simultaneous relationship: increased corruption will increase regional income disparities, income inequality, and increase fiscal decentralization. In addition, the results also suggest that an increase in per-capita income will reduce the level of corruption, or better control corruption of each province. The degree of increase in income inequality, which reduces fiscal decentralization, is the same for trade liberalization. All demonstrate that there is a simultaneous relationship between fiscal decentralization, corruption, and income inequality. In a region of high public governance quality, fiscal decentralization positively effects its economic growth. This issue will indirectly increase income inequality between provinces within a country. Our findings imply that a country’s fiscal decentralization strategy should be linked to improving corruption control and local governance effectiveness, indirectly improving income inequality between localities or regions.

Banking service is provided by a bank that allows its customers to conduct banking transactions and so the purpose of this study was to identify the factors that influenced the behavioral intention to accept and use banking services in Vietnam. The research methodology was implemented through two steps: qualitative research and quantitative research. Qualitative research was conducted with a sample of 30 people. Quantitative research was carried out as soon as the question was edited from the test results with a sample of 217 customers living in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam. The research model was proposed from the studies of the behavioral intentions to accept and use banking service. The reliability and validity of the scale were evaluated by Cronbach’s Alpha, Average Variance Extracted (Pvc), and Composite Reliability (Pc). The model selection of AIC showed that the behavioral intention to accept and use banking service was impacted by four components. The outcomes showed that the model of research intended to accept and use banking services in Ho Chi Minh, Vietnam showing the effects of 4 scales is built as perceived ease of use, trust, social norm, and innovation about banking services.

This paper analyzes factors affecting corporate investment decisions in economic groups listed on the Vietnam stock market. The panel data of the research sample includes 39 economic groups listed on the Vietnam stock market from 2009 to 2019. The Generalized Least Square (GLS) is employed to address econometric issues and to improve the accuracy of the regression coefficients. In this research, the investment rate is a dependent variable. Cash-flow (CF), Investment opportunities (ROA), Fixed capital intensity (FCI), Leverage (LEV), Sales growth (GR), Size (SZ), Business risk (RISK) are independent variables in the study. The model results show that cash flow and sales growth have the same impact on investment decisions of economic groups in Vietnam. In addition, investment opportunities have a negative impact on the capital investment decisions of economic groups. The remaining factors include fixed capital intensity, leverage, firm size, and business risks that have a weak and insignificant impact on capital investment decisions of economic groups in Vietnam. The findings of this article are useful for business administrators, and helping business managers make the right financial decisions. Besides, the research results are also meaningful to money management agencies. The authors recommend that the State Bank of Vietnam should maintain a sustainable monetary policy.

Tourism is considered one of the key economic sectors in Vietnam as it helps to promote the economic development, increase foreign exchange earnings, create jobs, and improve the living standards of local people. So, this study aims to identify factors affecting the competitiveness of Soc Trang ecotourism associated with Khmer culture based on a combination of qualitative and quantitative research methods. Qualitative research was conducted through focus group discussions with experts, and quantitative research was conducted through direct interviews with visitors at ecotourism sites in Soc Trang province. The study involves questionnaire surveys and multivariate data analysis methods (Cronbach’s Alpha test, EFA, CFA, SEM). Research results from 350 respondents demonstrate that all factors have a positive impact on the competitiveness of ecotourism associated with Khmer culture in Soc Trang province. It shows that the competitiveness of ecotourism associated with Khmer culture is influenced by five factors, including: (1) religious ritual customs of the Khmer people; (2) ecotourism infrastructure; (3) traditional festival activities of Khmer people; (4) culinary culture of Khmer people; and (5) folk ritual customs of the Khmer people. From these findings, the study offers some managerial implications to improve the competitiveness of Soc Trang ecotourism associated with Khmer culture.

This paper investigates the determinants of students’ success in Vietnam through conducting online interviews and surveys with 2,500 Vietnamese students at eight famous universities in Vietnam. By applying both SPSS 22 and STATA software, the study is to evaluate the impact of four driver factors, which affect GPA, language efficacy, and personal achievement. These factors are psychological perspective, home environmental, student demographic, and school environmental. The research results emphasize a positive effect of psychological and home-environmental determinants, but the negative effect of school environmental factors on the students’ success. Besides, the relationship between demographics and student success was tested and indicated that male students have a better language learning ability, but a low level of academic achievement than female students. The results also point out the impact of religious affiliation and ethnicity on personal achievement. Non-religious students are better achievers than those having a religion or those in minority ethnicity. Moreover, accumulated schooling years are negatively associated with students’ success. The more working experience students accrued, the higher possibility they are successful. Finally, the finding provides an insight into students’ success that might be useful to government authorities and other universities in designing policies for enhancing the quality of education.

The purpose of this paper is to investigate the factors influencing the Vietnamese farmers’ intention to accept organic farming based on the theory of planned behavior (TPB). After in-depth interviews with five agricultural researchers and five farmers, the authors have identified a formal research model and built a complete survey. Data were collected from 318 farmers in Hanoi, Vietnam, by surveying directly at their homes or farms. Statistical methods, such as Cronbach’s alpha, exploratory factor analysis (EFA) and linear regression analysis, were used to analyze the data with the help of SPSS 22.0 and AMOS 24.0. The results show that attitudes, subjective norms, and perceived behavioral control have a positive influence on farmers’ intention to accept organic farming in Vietnam. Based on the degree of impact of these factors, the authors give a few suggestions to state management agencies to promote the intention to accept organic farming in Vietnam: (i) increasing awareness of the difference between organic farming and conventional farming, the role of organic farming in health and the environment; (ii) increasing the activities of guiding the organic farming practices and facilitating the farmers to access these guides through many channels; and (iii) holding sessions to share practices in organic farming practices.

This study investigates the gender differences in determinants of customers’ satisfaction when purchasing online beauty and cosmetics products in Vietnamese market. To do so, we construct a data set via online survey of 419 Vietnamese customers including both males and females, and examine such sample using t-tests and multiple regressions. Our regression model is constructed based on our five-construct model including online shopping experience, customer service, external incentives, security and privacy, and personal characteristics. The t-tests results reveal that the mean difference of customer satisfaction (negative coefficient) between the two groups of customers (females and males) is statistically significant. This suggests that the purchasing satisfaction of male customers is significantly higher than that of their female counterparts. Similarly, we also find that male customers are more satisfied with their online shopping experience, customer service and external incentives offered by the online sellers than female peers. Furthermore, regression results for full sample show that, on average, the online shopping experience, customer service and external incentives are significantly and positively related to customer satisfaction. Yet, such positive effect of customer service on customer satisfaction is more likely for males while females’ satisfaction is more positively influenced by security and privacy.

This paper explores the barriers to derivative accounting disclosures in Vietnamese companies and ranks their relative importance for effective and efficient remedies. The Delphi technique was applied to get agreement of panel of experts on the measurement of factors hindering disclosure. Unstructured questionnaires were first sent to twelve experts who had both practical experience and academic knowledge in the field to get ideas on the obstructions to derivatives disclosure. The structured questionnaire was designed to get their agreement on barriers to derivative accounting disclosures. The data analysis with mean, median, mode, standard deviation, and quartile has been implemented to ensure the unanimity. Market-related factors, legislation, accountants’ attributes, managers’ attributes, information technology and communication, and on-site training were the six major obstacles agreed upon by the experts during their in-depth interviews. Then, these factors were ranked by applying the analytical hierarchy process (AHP). The findings confirmed the priority of information technology and communication, which held the greatest weight. Legislation ranked second, followed by market-related factors and on-site training, which explained the impediments to derivatives disclosure. Managers’ and accountants’ attributes had the least contribution to the barriers to derivative disclosures. The results have important implications for actions to enhance corporate derivative disclosures in Vietnam.

This study examines the influence of working capital management (WCM) factors on the profitability of steel companies listed on the Stock Exchange of Vietnam. Data was collected from audited financial statements of companies for a period of 10 years, from 2010 to 2019. The number of samples eligible for research is 20 out of 26 companies, which is equivalent to 76.9%. With the help of dedicated software Stata version 14, the impact determination of WCM (through 8 independent variables: DIO, DPO, DSO, CCC, SIZ, CR, LEV, GRO) to the firm’s profitability (through the dependent variable) is performed through multivariate regression models. Research results from companies in the steel industry in Vietnam during this period indicate that WCM has a strong impact on the profitability of businesses. Among 8 factors affecting the profitability of steel enterprises, factors DPO, DIO, DSO, CR, SIZ, GRO have a positive impact, boosting profitability; 2 factors CCC and LEV have a negative impact on profitability; in which, the effect of CCC is negligible. This conclusion is almost in contrast to many previously published studies due to the specifics of the industry as well as the different stages of economic development associated with the economic management policies of the State.

The study examines the effect of environmental factors on the international harmonization process of accounting on small and medium enterprises in Vietnam. These factors include legal environment, business environment, and cultural environment. The data is collected by a survey of 100 accountants and 100 auditors on the factors that affects the international harmonization process of accounting. The T-Tests indicate differences between the answers of the accountants and auditors. First, for the accountants, legal environment has the biggest effect on the harmonization process of accounting; while on the auditors, business environment has the biggest influence. Second, while the accountants consider costs higher than benefits in the harmonization process of accounting, the auditors assume that benefits are superior to costs that businesses spend. Third, both the accountants and the auditors indicate that the harmonization process of accounting should not be applied for all small and medium enterprises. From the study results, the author has given a different evaluation method that Vietnam should implement for international harmonization with the required adjustments as per the suitability with the status of businesses in Vietnam. The process of harmonization in accounting practices should not be indiscriminately applied to all the small and medium enterprises either.

Foreign factors play an important role in the socio-economic development of each country, in which foreign direct investment (FDI), foreign aid and exports of goods and services are always given top priority in undeveloped countries as well as developing countries. The purpose of this study is to examine the relationship between the various factors such as FDI, foreign aid, exports and economic growth in Vietnam. The empirical method employed secondary time-series data set during the period 1997-2018 to determine the impact of FDI, foreign aid and exports on economic growth in Vietnam by using a linear approach. For this study, data is collected from the World Bank and relevant agencies in Vietnam. An empirical model is built with a correlation and regression analysis between economic growth (GDP, current) and three independent variables (FDI, aid, exports of goods and services). The results show that the relationship between FDI (net inflows), aid, exports and GDP (current) has a positive effect at a 1% significance level. Based on these findings, the article recommends that Vietnam continues to seek effective solutions to maintain high economic growth rates by attracting FDI inflows, official development assistance (ODA), and increasing exports of goods and services.

This research aims to shed light on the technology adoption process and its drivers in the Vietnamese educational system. Research data was collected with an online questionnaire from more than 600 teachers in primary schools, secondary schools, high schools, colleges, and universities in Vietnam in 2020. Based on a holistic literature review, we develop a model of two extrinsic factors (global needs and school-infrastructure), and two intrinsic factors (teachers’ technological literacy and their beliefs), which are correlated with the teachers’ technological adoption. We measure the dependent variable by asking the teachers’ ability and their efficacy to implement technology in teaching according to a Likert scale. With the support of SPSS_22 and STATA_2015, we find that over 70% of changes in technology adoption are explained by the changes in four independent variables and three control variables related to age, gender, and teachinglevel of the teachers. Furthermore, these independent variables are significantly and positively associated with two dependent variables. However, a significant difference in technology integration ability can be seen among teachers’ gender, age, and school-level. Specifically, male teachers seem to adopt technology at schools than female teachers better, and university teachers have the lowest level of technology adoption compared to other school-level teachers.

This study investigates the factors affecting Industry 4.0 adoption in the curriculum of university students in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam. Universities need to respond to the changing faces of Industry 4.0 and, hence, Education 4.0. A mixed method including both qualitative and quantitative methodologies was utilized. An in-depth interview was carried out for exploring, reviewing, and testing content validity of constructs and measurement items. The pilot study was conducted with 120 respondents. The conceptual model and hypotheses were developed using data collected by a questionnaire survey distributed to 584 respondents by both electronic and paper forms with nonprobability and convenience sampling techniques. The result of structural equation modeling showed that occupation relevance, skills, facility conditions, and social influence impacted on the intermediates variables, namely, relevance advantage, perceived usefulness, behavioral intention-to-use, and actual use. The independent variables are occupation relevance, skills, facility conditions, and social influence. They impact actual use through mediating constructs such as relevance advantage, perceived usefulness, and behavioral intention-to-use. The findings suggest that universities and students’ efforts aimed at increasing the factors’ perceptions of adoption of Industry 4.0 will contribute to implementation success, where success is defined as effectual usage of Industry 4.0.

E-commerce development led to the explosion of online payment. Consumers have many choices when deciding on the online payment method for each transaction. Using a combination of both qualitative and quantitative methods with the help of SPSS AMOS version 22.0, the article explores the factors that influence consumers’ online payment method decision behavior in Vietnam. Research results show that awareness of usefulness, awareness of risk, awareness of trust, awareness ease of use, product uncertainly perception and perceived behavioral control have effects on the behavior of deciding on online payment methods. Awareness of risk has the strongest negative impact on online payment method decision behavior and awareness of usefulness has the strongest positive impact on online payment method decision behavior. Based on these important results, the article proposes a number of implications: (i) continuing to invest and upgrade modern technology to ensure customer information absolutely confidential; (ii) converting all ATM cards on the market to EMV chip standard card technology; (iii) improving service activities, quickly handle things to create confidence for customers; (iv) credit institutions operating in the field of online payment linked to e-commerce sites, supermarkets, convenience stores, restaurants must ask partners to increase transparency for the products.

This study aims to evaluate the effectiveness of sterilization in Vietnam. We estimate a simultaneous equation by using Two-Stage least squares (2SLS) regression analysis. The time-series data was collected for the first quarter of 2004 to the fourth quarter of 2018. In particular, the effectiveness of sterilization is considered in terms of dollarized economy, since making the transition from a centrally planned to a market economy system, the Vietnamese economy has remained in a state of dollarization. In addition, we also assess whether the global financial crisis had an impact on the sterilization effectiveness of the State Bank of Vietnam (SBV). On the basis of the estimated sterilization and offset coefficients, our results suggest that the State Bank of Vietnam (SBV) has not been able to fully neutralize the impact on the domestic money supply when intervening in the foreign exchange market, and the capital inflows respond strongly to changes in domestic monetary conditions. The results also show that the global financial crisis has changed the effectiveness of these sterilization policies. An analysis of this study’s empirical findings provides the opportunity to derive some recommendations that may assist in increasing the effectiveness of the State Bank of Vietnam’s sterilization policies in the process of accumulating international reserves.

The relationship between education and work is of the greatest concern to individuals and society because they are the key drivers of growth and development. In the context of Industry 4.0, labor and educators are facing the challenges of big changes in the workplace. How to prepare undergraduate students for the world of employment has become the most important mission of higher education providers. This paper explored the competency gap in the labor market in Vietnam from the perspective of employees who have been dissatisfied with the current status. First, a qualitative method with the Delphi technique was applied to confirm this consensus in an employees’ competency model. Then, the satisfaction level for each competency criterion was explored by applying the advance quantitative method, namely, best non-fuzzy performance approach. Lifelong learning was ranked first, followed by creativity and innovation, foreign languages, expertise and digitalization, adaptability, and finally, organizing and managing ability. Critical thinking and problem-solving were perceived to have the biggest gap. The order of competency satisfaction is useful in explaining the mismatch between education quality and labor market demand. The findings provide valuable guidelines for education managers who seek to bridge the competency gap and improve education quality.

Sustainable development – including tourism development – is the general trend of all economies. With the orientation to build and develop the tourism industry into a key economic sector and become a tourist center of the Southeast region, Vietnam, Ba Ria-Vung Tau Province is demanding a proper, rational, development policy, while ensuring the development and exploitation of immediate natural advantages, and ensuring long-term sustainable development. The objective of this study is to examine the factors and their trends in sustainable tourism development in Ba Ria-Vung Tau Province, Vietnam. Methods used include descriptive statistical analysis, exploratory factor analysis and regression analysis. Data was collected from the results of a survey of 550 domestic and foreign tourists visiting Ba Ria-Vung Tau. With the help of SPSS statistical software, 12 groups of factors affecting sustainable development were identified including: economy, society, environment, humanistic tourism resources, natural tourism resources, tourism human resources, tourism products and service, tourism quality, infrastructure, technical facilities, governmental management and group of criteria to evaluate sustainable tourism development. The research results show that there are four groups of factors that significantly affect sustainable tourism development in Ba Ria-Vung Tau. These are groups of factors: Society, Environment, Tourism products and service, and Technical facilities.

The purpose of the research is to identify antecedents of mobile wallet continuance intention in Vietnam. A self-administered questionnaire was distributed to collect data from a total of 276 respondents. Partial least squares structural equation modeling was employed for analyzing the data. Five mobile wallet features – mobile application quality, mobile wallet familiarity, situational normality, payment security, and feedback mechanism – are introduced as fundamental elements, which influence customer’ continuance intention to use mobile wallet in Vietnam. The results indicate that mobile quality application and familiarity can significantly influence perceived ease-of-use (PEOU) and perceived usefulness (PU), but situational normality has an impact only on PEOU. PEOU and PU are positively related to satisfaction. On the other hand, payment security and feedback mechanism affect positively customer’ trust. As a result, the positive effects that satisfaction and trust have on electronic wallet continuance intention are confirmed. The findings can be used to advise mobile wallet providers to improve their platform design and services to retain users. As a theoretical contribution, this study combines the Technology Acceptance Model, Unified Theory of Acceptance and Use of Technology to investigate the key determinants on continuance intention in the context of electronic wallet in Vietnam.

The paper focuses on understanding fintech and the application of fintech in the banking sector in Vietnam. To solve this research objective, the authors analyze fintech development trends, especially the fintech application in the banking sector in Vietnam. To improve the quality of fintech services at banks, the authors conducted consideration of factors affecting customers’ intention to use fintech services. To accomplish this, the authors collected data through a survey of 620 customers of the banks located in Ho Chi Minh City – the largest economic center in Vietnam. For the analytical method, the authors used multivariate regression to estimate the research model. Research results show that fintech service is very important for the banking sector in Vietnam. Moreover, this paper has achieved great success by identifying the factors that influence customers’ intention to use fintech services. Accordingly, the intention to use fintech (INT) services is positively affected by the perception of usefulness (PU), social impact (SI), customer trust (TRU), and perceived ease of use (PEU). Based on the results of this study, bank managers will have a basis to improve the quality of fintech services. Not only that, the results of this study are also valuable for policymakers and researchers.

Earnings management behavior is the use of accounting procedures, through accounting policies, to intentionally purposeful control in the provision of information to users. The purpose of this paper is to examine the relationship between ownership structure factors and earnings management behavior of 30 Vietnamese commercial banks. The paper uses the ordinary least square method to examine this relationship and employs time series data of 15 years from 2005 to 2019. The study also uses agency theory an asymmetric information theory. The authors examined six independent variables related to the ownership structure and these variables are typical of Vietnamese commercial banks. The results of the study show that the foreign ownership ratio is an opposite effect, while the ownership concentration variable has a positive effect on earnings management behavior of Vietnamese commercial banks. Based on that, the article proposes a number of policy suggestions for the State bank of Vietnam and Board of directors of commercial banks as well as investors to identify and to limit the earnings management behaviors of Vietnamese commercial banks. This contributes to ensuring information transparency as well as improving the quality of accounting information of Vietnamese commercial banks in the coming years.