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Nowadays, the issues related to pro-environmental, sustainable and green consumption behaviors are attracting significant attention from both scholars and practitioners. However, in the context of emerging countries, less research effort has been invested in this topic, especially in investigating young consumer purchase behavior. The purpose of this study is to investigate factors driving young adult Vietnamese consumers’ purchase intention toward green apparel products with emphasis on the role of materialistic values.

In this research, a conceptual framework is proposed integrating the theory of planned behavior (TPB) model with an important consumer value, materialism. To test the research model and hypotheses, a survey of a sample of 245 young adults (under 25 years old) was conducted in Hanoi, the capital city and one of the two most populous cities in Vietnam. All the scales used in this study were established in the literature, and the scales’ reliability and validity were assessed through Cronbach’s alpha and confirmatory factor analysis. The structural equation modeling (SEM) was used to test the proposed model and hypotheses.

In this study, six hypotheses were tested and five out of six received support from the data. Specifically, the results of SEM showed that all three antecedents from the TPB model (i.e. attitude, subjective norms and perceived behavioral control) were positive contributors to green apparel purchase intention, of which subjective norms were found to be the most influential predictor of purchase intention. With regard to the roles of the three components of materialism, the findings provided empirical evidence for supporting the positive impact of “success” and the negative impact of “centrality” on the attitude toward green apparel purchase, while “happiness” component was not found to have a significant impact on attitude. In this study, income as a control variable was found to be positively related to purchase intention toward green apparel products.

There is a little research on the relationship between specific values and environment-friendly behaviors, especially in the context of emerging economies such as Vietnam. In addition, it has been suggested that the relationship between materialistic values and green purchase behavior is still unclear. Thus, it is important to have a deeper understanding of the role of materialistic values in green apparel purchase among young adult consumers in the context of Vietnam, an Asian emerging country where only modest research effort has been given to explore this important topic.

Vietnam is an emerging economy in the South East Asia region. Its Generation Z is gradually taking the lead in the country. But rather than breaking away from the previous generations, this generation also shows a strong preference towards local values and solid commitment to social issues. Thus, traditional culture elements are increasingly integrated in every aspect of Generation Z’s life, such as advertising and fashion. Instead of hanging out at coffee places, they go for bubble tea. They still appreciate the traditional values but integrate them within a modern context. Brands chase after these young people by adapting their values into their products and services. In the work place, the Vietnamese Generation Z is less confident. They are partially lost in career development with poor career counselling in the education system. They desire new experience and new learning opportunities. Generation Z, who were born beginning in 1995, emerges in Vietnam as a fresh and promising force.

This paper aims to explore factors influencing apartment price volatility in the two biggest cities in Vietnam, Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City.

The study uses the supply and demand approach and provides a literature review of previous studies to develop four main hypotheses using four determinants of apartment price volatility in Vietnam: gross domestic product (GDP), inflation rate, lending interest rate and construction cost. Subsequently, the Vector Error Correction Model (VECM) is used to analyze a monthly data sample of 117.

The research highlights the important role of construction costs in apartment price volatility in the two largest cities. Moreover, there are significant differences in how all four determinants affect apartment price volatility in the two cities. In addition, there is a long-run relationship between the determinants and apartment price volatility in both Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City.

Limitations related to data transparency of the real estate industry in Vietnam lead to three main limitations of this paper, including: this paper only collects a sample of 117 valid monthly observations; apartment price volatility is calculated by changes in the apartment price index instead of apartment price standard deviation; and this paper is limited by only four determinants, those being GDP, inflation rate, lending interest rate and construction cost.

The study provides evidence of differences in how the above determinants affect apartment price volatility in Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City, which helps investors and policymakers to make informed decisions relating to the real estate market in the two biggest cities in Vietnam.

This paper makes several recommendations to policymakers and investors in Vietnam to ensure a stable real estate market, contributing to the stability of the national economy.

This paper provides a new approach using VECM to analyze both long-run and short-run relationships between macroeconomic and sectoral independent variables and apartment price volatility in the two biggest cities in Vietnam.

This paper aims to investigate the linkage between corporate social responsibility (CSR) and earnings quality (EQ) in the context of Vietnam, an Asian emerging economy characterized by high growth for decades and a socialist orientation. As CSR firms are expected to have high EQ, there arise concerns that corporate managers of CSR firms may use the reputation of the firm as a protection mechanism against the cost of earnings management.

The study uses a unique sample of Vietnamese CSR firms listed on Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh Stock Exchanges from 2015 to 2019. Several econometric tests are conducted to investigate whether corporate managers of CSR-active firms actively engage in earnings management and reduce the firms' EQ.

The empirical results show a negative impact of CSR on EQ, meaning that, in general, corporate managers of CSR firms in Vietnam opportunistically manage earnings. This confirms the paradox of the CSR–EQ relationship. In line with an emerging strand of research in the CSR literature, the finding suggests that the agency problem arises in CSR firms where corporate managers use their managerial discretion over accrual accounting to manipulate reported earnings.

The finding has practical implications for market participants and policymakers in improving monitoring mechanisms and enhancing the information environment in developing capital markets.

This is the first study in the literature that investigates and shows the paradox of the CSR–EQ relationship in the context of Vietnam, a new emerging economy that follows socialist orientation.

The purpose of this paper is to find out the distribution of benefits, costs, and value added among the actors and problems in the practical management in dairy milk value chain, especially in one of the most important dairy areas in Vietnam to see how they upgrade in the value chain.

A survey was carried out in Bavi, Hanoi where a large amount of fresh milk is produced annually. The content of the survey was built before conducting in Bavi with 160 questionnaires. The questionnaires were based on the criteria which reflect the main objectives of the paper such as the actor’s profits and costs, the relationship among these actors, and the advantages and disadvantages in the dairy milk’s value chain. Some part of results of the paper was evaluated by conducting interviews with the relevant target groups in the value chain of dairy milk. Data collected were aggregated and analyzed by SPSS20, Excel. The calculation of cost and profit margin of each actor in the chain was also be presented by a quantitative tool for value chain analysis.

This study pointed out the systemized problems in the value chain of one of the biggest dairy companies in Vietnam. This study revealed some wicked problems in the value chains of Vietnam under globalization.

This study could not cover all of the detailed actors in the dairy value chain.

The value of income in the chain is distributed unequally. The benefits that farmers receive are inadequate with the costs they have to pay. This is a particular chain, in which the main factors boosting the chain are factories, and an increase in revenue also reflects the benefits of them. The result is that the value added in the chain is also biased toward the dairy plant. The paper also pointed out the shortcomings in the cost calculation of farmers. All the expenses, such as wages and the opportunity cost, are calculated in the total cost of the dairy plant, whereas dairy farmers do not mention these costs. Thus, in terms of benefits, farmers suffer more disadvantages, thus they should be received more value. In terms of management, Bavi’s authorities could not manage the output of milk in the perfect way. The lax management has led to a series of counterfeit goods that appear on the market today. These low-quality products are sold right on the highway and the Bavi’s tourist destination.

The recent decades have witnessed the rising frequency and severity of infectious diseases in the international context and their detrimental impacts on the corporate world as a result of growing interconnection among nations. This study aims to examine the effect of previous infectious diseases (H5N1, H1N1 and MERS) on the disclosure of corporate social responsibility (CSR) among listed Chinese firms from 2006 to 2017.

Firm-level financial and CSR data of Chinese non-financial listed firms are from the China Stock Market and Accounting Research database. The data on corporate governance are collected from Bloomberg financial database. Three infectious diseases under examination are H5N1 (2006–2007), H1N1 (2009–2010) and MERS (2015–2016). This study uses the fixed-effect estimations to account for time-invariant differences among the firms in the sample.

The results reveal that Chinese firms disclose less CSR information during the time of public health crises, and this impact is more pronounced in small-sized and low-growth firms. Besides, the analysis suggests that Chinese firms are becoming more resilient to infectious diseases.

The findings provide implications for corporate stakeholders to understand corporate policies under uncertainties and inform vulnerable businesses to develop an appropriate CSR strategy in preparation for future health calamities.

This study provides new insights into how businesses react to previous epidemics and pandemics at different scales other than the COVID-19 pandemic. Besides, the findings shed light on the dynamic of firms’ CSR engagement during and after the infectious outbreaks.

This study examines the effect of audit quality on earnings management to beat earnings targets among Chinese listed firms, taking into account the firms’ corporate social responsibility (CSR) practice.

The sample consists of all A-shares listed in the Chinese stock market from 2001 to 2019, except firms in the financial industry. Probit estimator is employed to observe the effect of audit quality, proxied by a binary variable indicating whether a firm is audited by a Big 4 audit firm, on the behavior of earnings management to beat earnings targets. Industry and year fixed effects are incorporated into the models to control for differences among industries and time periods.

The result of this study reveals that audit quality disciplines earnings management to beat earnings targets in Chinese firms. This result holds across different specification and endogeneity tests. The authors further find that auditors seem to be more tolerant to earnings-managed firms that actively disclose CSR activities. However, this moderating effect of CSR disclosure only exists among firms that manage earnings less aggressively.

The findings of this study suggest that market participants should be mindful of the earnings management phenomenon and make their investment decisions after carefully dissecting and confirming the truthfulness of firms’ financial reporting. Regulators should raise the requirement on the capacity of auditing services to ensure the quality of the audit outcome.

This study is the first to investigate the effect of audit quality on earnings management to beat earnings targets in Chinese firms. Moreover, this study pioneers in observing the moderating effect of CSR disclosure on the relationship between audit quality and earnings management.

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.