This study was conducted on financial data of 38 economic groups listed on Vietnam’s stock market for the period 2009 – 2019 and it aims to provide an empirical evidence on the impact of working capital management policy on performance in all phases of the economic cycle of Vietnamese economic groups. The study uses FGLS estimation method with 2 dependent variables ROA, GOP, independent variables including INV, AR, AP, CCC, dummy variable representing different phases of the economic cycle, variables Control includes CAT, CR, LEV, SZ, GR. Research shows that the greater the level of investment by companies in liquid assets corresponding to a certain level of activity (shown by average days of inventory (INV), average days of collection. (AR), cash flow cycle (CCC)) the lower the rate of return on assets. The study also provides additional evidence of the negative effects of economic crisis on the performance of economic groups. The study also shows that the number of short-term asset cycles has a positive impact on operational efficiency, and the level of debt use has a negative impact on operational efficiency. This result implies that the managers of economic groups can increase the efficiency of businesses through a reasonable working capital policy.

Employability has recently become the first target of the national higher education. Its model has been updated to catch the new trend of Industry 4.0. This paper aims at analyzing and ranking the determinants of undergraduate employability, focusing on business and economics majors in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam. In-depth interviews with content analysis have been primarily conducted to reach an agreement on a key group of factors: human capital, social capital, and identity. The Stochastic Fractal Search Algorithm (SFSA) is then applied to rank the sub-factors. Human capital is composed of three major elements: attitude, skill, and knowledge. Social capital is approached at both structural and cognitive aspects with three typical types: bonding, bridging, and linking. The analysis has confirmed the change of priority in employability determinants. Human capital is still a driver but the priority of attitude has been confirmed in the contemporary context. Then, social capital with the important order of linking, bridging, and bonding is emphasized. Skill, knowledge, and identity share the least weight in the model. It is noted that identity is newly proposed in the model but a certain role has been found. The findings are crucial for education strategies to enhance university graduate employability.

Although networking behavior is an effective job search method to students, far too little attention has been paid to mechanisms explaining the antecedents and networking behavior. The goal of this study was to demonstrate the effect of the HEXACO personality dimensions on graduated students’ job search networking behavior through their network size. A survey of 773 participants was conducted to assess personality traits, network size, and networking behavior. All constructs in the study were measured by 5-point Likert scales. This study employed a structural equation model to examine the proposed conceptual model and the correlations among variables. Results showed that the personality of emotionality negatively influence students’ network size, while extraversion and agreeableness are positively associated with the scope of their social network. Second, the findings confirmed that network size is directly related to the level of looking-for job behavior, particularly networking behavior. Finally, our results explored that network size played the mediating effect on how personality traits affect networking behavior. These findings suggest that network size is a dynamic mechanism that helps to understand the correlation between personality traits and job search networking behavior. The theoretical and practical implication of the study, as well as the future research direction were discussed.

The research purpose of the article is to evaluate the effects of the internal control components on the effectiveness of internal control of transport construction enterprises in Vietnam, on the basis of which we made recommendations to contribute to improving the effectiveness of internal control. Sample was collected from Vietnamese medium and large transport construction enterprises, the total number of sample questionnaires sent was 400, 330 filled-up questionnaires was collected and 250 was used for the study purpose. Quantitative research method was used for the study with the help of the SPSS software. The variables in the model are as follows: the dependent variable is the effectiveness of internal control, 5 independent variables are: control environment, risk assessment, control activities, communication, and monitoring. The results of the analysis explain 80.4% variation as a result of the effect of internal control on the Vietnamese transport construction enterprise. All five components positively affect the effectiveness of internal controls in the order of influence, which are: control activities, control environment, communication, risk assessment and monitoring. This study contributes in providing more empirical evidence about the effects of internal control components on the effectiveness of internal control of transport construction enterprises in Vietnam. The study has proposed a number of recommendations to help transport construction enterprises improve control activities and contribute towards improving the effectiveness of internal control.

The shift from elite education to mass education in Vietnam has met the demand for education for everybody as well as for quality human resource talent for an emerging nation. Under the resource constraint, understanding the quality dimensions of education and its priority level is important for effective and efficient policies. This study was carried out using both qualitative and quantitative methodologies to develop quality criteria and a ranking model. Two rounds of in-depth interviews were conducted with fifteen experts in the field, who were rectors, employers, and recruitment specialists to develop the quality framework applied in Vietnamese universities under total quality management (TQM), starting from the input of the senior secondary school leavers, through a teaching process to the output. The first round of interviews were unstructured questionnaires designed to explore the main factors in quality assessment model. The second round affirmed the experts’ agreement on the assessment model. Then, fuzzy logic was applied to rank eight criteria in the quality assessment model into priority order: cost, teaching and administrative staff, leadership, curriculum, student-related factors, internationalization, admissions, and campus. The results are critical for identifying the necessary actions to enhance the education quality and to further research on the optimal quality model.

The purpose of the study is to find the factors that influence the financial leverage of Vietnam firms. The dependent variable is the financial leverage and the independent variables are firm size, asset structure, liquidity, growth opportunities, profitability, and firm age. The data are collected from Vietnam firms’ annual financial reports in the period from 2010 to 2019. The study uses a sample of 448 Vietnam listed firms in the period. We also employ a panel regression model with pooled OLS and fixed effect to analyze the firms’ financial data. The results of the model showed that financial leverage (FL) has a negative relationship with some factors such as asset structure (AS), liquidity (LQ), growth opportunities (GRW), profitability (ROA), and firm age (AGE) in the fixed effect regression. It means that when liquidity, profitability, and firm age increase, firms’ financial leverage will decrease. While firms’ financial leverage has still a positive relationship with the firm size (SIZE) in the model. As a result, when firm size increases, financial leverage will increase, too. The results showed that models are fit for the research and can be used to predict future findings. It is also useful for enterprises, financial advisors, investors, as well as the financial managers.

This study measures the relationship between labor productivity and national competitiveness. Through the shift- share analysis method, the paper has separated labor productivity into three factors: static shift effect, dynamic shift effect and endogeneous effect. Next, in combination with the Granger causality test, the paper examines the relationship between the factors constituting labor productivity and competitiveness during the period from 2005 to 2017. Research data is collected from General Statistics Office and annual global competitiveness reports. The results show that the interaction between labor productivity with global competitiveness index (GCI) in Vietnam has similar variation. Nevertheless, when separating labor productivity into three effects, this relationship shows more clearly that the impact of labor productivity on GCI scores is mainly caused by endogeneous effect, not by static shift effect or dynamic shift effect. Therefore, in order to improve its competitiveness, Vietnam should focus on a number of solutions: reforming the education system towards developing thinking capacity and creative capacity; fostering industrial manners to create dynamic and flexible workers; building the State with sufficient capacity to implement consistent and transparent policies; formulating policies to attract all economic sectors so that they actively participate in the field of human resource training for the country.

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.

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 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.

A construction project is a designed product made up of labors, materials, and installations in the project positioned on the ground and may include the underground and ground section, and the section in water or on the water surface. It is a civil, industrial, transport, agricultural and rural development, infrastructure, or some other. A key phase in the life cycle of these construction projects is the implementation when building products are made directly with workers, equipment, materials, and managers. If there is a lack of management experience, information, and problem-solving solutions to tackle the risks faced by contractors, especially foreign ones, will fail in controlling the project’s cost. This study was conducted with investigations, discussions, and evaluation of the factors that lead to cost overruns in the construction projects of international contractors in Vietnam. The principal component analysis (PCA) showed that those factors that influence cost overruns these construction projects fall into five general groups, including factors related to (i) the owners, (ii) the foreign contractors, (iii) the subcontractors and suppliers, (iv) state management, and (v) the project itself. Besides, the study proposes solutions to limit cost overruns in construction projects and improve the profitability of international contractors in Vietnam.

The paper aims to investigate the impact of budgetary goal on profit growth directly and indirectly through managerial performance. Two main characteristics of budgetary goal mentioning in the study are the clarity of budget goal and the difficult of budget goal. Data of the research collected from survey with 197 department managers and supervisors of 80 SMEs in Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City who have budgeting responsible. Firstly, by using quantitative research method Cronbach’s Alpha and Exploratory Factor Analysis, the research show that characteristic of budgetary goal has significant and positive impact on profit growth directly. Secondly, the regression analysis among variables show that budget goal clarity was positively and significantly related to growth of sale revenue, growth of profit and managerial performance. Therefore, the empirical findings show that that managerial performance has mediating role in the relationship between budgetary goal characteristic and financial performance. The findings of this study suggest that that managers need focus on setting clearer and more difficult but attainable budget goals to increase firm performance. This paper also provides a new insight the relationship between managerial performance and financial performance. Budgetary goal characteristics still have positive but insignificant impact on growth of sales revenue.