Governance In Vietnam Research Articles

Good governance and tourism development in Vietnam: looking back at the past three decades (1990–2023)

Good governance and tourism development in Vietnam: looking back at the past three decades (1990–2023)

Corporate governance and firm performance in Vietnam: The moderating role of digital transformation

This study examines the interplay between corporate governance mechanisms and firm performance in the Vietnamese context, with a particular focus on the moderating role of digital transformation. Utilizing a sample of 150 Vietnamese firms in 2023, the study employs a GMM approach to analyze the relationship between board characteristics (size, independence, duality, gender diversity, meeting frequency, and nationality diversity), digital transformation, and firm performance, proxied by ROA, ROE, and EPS. The findings reveal that board size and CEO duality positively influence firm performance. Notably, the positive impact of gender diversity on performance is amplified by digital transformation. While digital transformation exhibits a standalone positive effect on performance, its moderating role on other governance mechanisms is mixed. These results underscore the importance of effective corporate governance practices, particularly in the context of digital transformation, for enhancing firm performance in the Vietnamese market.

Responsible Business Practices and Legal and Practical Issues in Corporate Governance and Investment in Vietnam

Responsible Business Practices and Legal and Practical Issues in Corporate Governance and Investment in Vietnam

A tale of two Southeast Asian states: media governance and authoritarian regimes in Singapore and Vietnam

Political scientists have crafted intricate taxonomies to classify nations beyond liberal democracy, positioning these societies along an authoritarian continuum. Despite the pivotal role of journalists in accelerating political dynamics, there exists a lack of comparative research on media governance in these regimes. Consequently, this study scrutinizes the media governance ecosystems in Vietnam and Singapore. Vietnam is a one-party authoritarian state, whereas Singapore represents a hybrid political system. However, both countries exhibit a stable and uninterrupted rule by the respective ruling party. Our research uncovers the nuances of Singapore’s media regulation, which embeds trusted stakeholders with financial interests in key press roles to reinforce the implicit political norms. Conversely, Vietnam employs a more direct, coercive, and state-centric approach. Media actors in both nations occasionally test the boundaries of acceptable discourses, with each government’s responses being shaped by specific contexts and broader history. Reforms in Vietnam, embracing privatization and commercialization, mirror Singapore’s integration of capitalism, public ownership, and commercial interests when governing media. These findings highlight diverse yet effective authoritarian media governance strategies, unique features, and commonalities in both systems. Overall, media structures in these Southeast Asian countries have undergone profound evolutions towards more sophisticated regulatory tools to manage societal and political transformations.

Tác động của thay đổi các quy định pháp lý về quản trị công ty đến mối quan hệ giữa lợi nhuận và giá cổ phiếu của các công ty niêm yết tại Việt Nam

This paper examines effect of changes in regulations on corporate governance in Vietnam on accounting quality in the aspect of relationship between earnings and share prices. After financial scandals, many countries have tightened legal regulations on corporate governance. In Vietnam, important legal regulations on corporate governance, including Security Law, Enterprise Law and Regulations on disclosure of information by listed companies, have been amended or issued in 2019-2020 and being effective from January 1, 2021. However, with a sample of approximate 300 Vietnamese listed companies in 2 years (2020- 2021), regression results reveal that there is no evidence for the changes in value relevance (relationship between earnings and stock price) in the period after the newly issued legal documents took effect. The evidence provided in this paper is consistent with some previous studies in developing countries and supports for the recommendation that each country should take consideration of its legal and cultural characteristics in adopting Westen corporate governance practices. This result is also useful for evaluating the effectiveness of the changes in CG regulations.

Corporate governance and bank performance in Vietnam: the role of the board of directors

Corporate governance and bank performance in Vietnam: the role of the board of directors

General consumer perceptions and their impact on corporate social responsibility (CSR) and environmental, social, and governance (ESG) in Vietnam

This study explores the impact of consumer perceptions on Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) and Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) practices in Vietnam. Given the country's rapid economic development and increasing environmental and social challenges, understanding consumer attitudes towards CSR and ESG is crucial for businesses aiming to align with market expectations. The research employs the Theory of Planned Behavior and the Corporate Reputation Influence framework to analyze how Vietnamese consumers' understanding and perceptions of CSR and ESG influence corporate strategies and decision-making. Key findings indicate that Vietnamese consumers, especially the younger and more educated demographic, are increasingly prioritizing sustainability and ethical practices. Companies that align their operations with these consumer expectations can enhance their reputation, gain competitive advantage, improve operational efficiency, attract top talent, manage risks better, and secure better access to capital. However, challenges such as resource constraints, measurement and reporting difficulties, regulatory compliance complexities, consumer skepticism, and supply chain management issues remain. The study suggests enhancing education and awareness, improving transparency and reporting, strengthening regulatory compliance, fostering stakeholder engagement, supporting SMEs, and promoting innovation and investment in sustainability to effectively integrate CSR and ESG practices.

ANALYSIS OF ADVANCES IN VIETNAM'S LAND LAW: AN INSIGHT INTO THE 2013 LAND LAW AND ITS IMPLEMENTATION

The Land Law is one of the most concerned laws in Vietnam. Although the 2013 Land Law – the current Land Law has achieved many positive advances, some of its contents have not kept up with the rapid development in the economy and society of Vietnam today. This study examines the advances made in Vietnam's land law, with a focus on the 2013 Land Law and its implementation. In this study, we analyze the legal framework for land use in Vietnam, including the historical context of land reform and the development of the current land law. We also review the implementation of the 2013 Land Law, including its impact on land ownership, land use rights, and land management practices. Lastly, we provide a detailed analysis of the advances made in the 2013 Vietnam's land law, as well as the challenges and opportunities for further progress in land governance in Vietnam.

Transition of Governance in Vietnam’s Northern Uplands in the Early Nguyễn Period

Transition of Governance in Vietnam’s Northern Uplands in the Early Nguyễn Period

Wear your digital mask, fight this virus like it’s the enemy: pandemic user-citizenship as platform-infrastructure entanglements

ABSTRACT This paper articulates the emergence of the user-citizen as a result of techno-solutionist approaches to pandemic management by tracing the rapid infrastructuralisation of surveillance in and through the platformisation of pandemic governance in Vietnam. Coinciding with Vietnam’s rollout of chip-based national identification cards for citizens over the age of 14, the development of a one-stop ‘super-app’ solution that streamlines data flows across different domains of authority happened in a context where platforms were increasingly discussed alongside, and understood on the same terms as, infrastructure. By conducting situational analysis of publicly available policy documents and official government communication, the paper traces how pandemic platforms contract and expand in response to evolving pandemic management needs, and gives an account of the evolution of institutional dependency across different domains of authority and technology development. Using Vietnam as a case study, this paper contributes to ongoing theorisation at the intersection of platformisation and infrastructuralisation in pandemic social service provision. The paper is an invitation to examine the increasing entanglements of technology and citizenship performances around the world as they unfold throughout the course of the pandemic and beyond.

The political participation of local citizen in the elections of local leaders in Vietnam

PurposeThis study aims to identify the level of political participation of local citizen in 208 districts representing for 63 provinces and cities in Vietnam and consider the effects of candidate's attributes, local political contextual factors and other local citizen’s demographic characteristics on the elections of local leaders in Vietnam.Design/methodology/approachBy using Probit model and data about provincial governance and public administration performance index and self-survey about local leaders in the districts, this paper shows the different effects of candidates’ attributes, local political context and other local citizen’s characteristics on the first and second elections of local leaders in Vietnam.FindingsThe result indicates the probability of candidates being elected in the first term depends on their characteristics, local political context and local citizen. However, the reelection of local leaders for a second term depends much on their characteristics and local political context not on demographic characteristics of local citizen. The satisfaction rate of local citizen and being an incumbent for the first term are driving forces for the local citizen to elect their leader for the second term. Meanwhile, local political context such as local transparency, local official development assistance project and citizen satisfaction will increase the likelihood of local leaders being elected for the first and second terms.Research limitations/implicationsThe major limitation of this study is the data of the self-survey because it only provides basic but not complete characteristics of candidates and local contexts in some typical districts in 63 provinces and cities across the country.Practical implicationsThis paper includes policy implications for candidates who want to be elected for both terms and local governance in Vietnam. The government needs to focus on building human resources for local administration to meet the requirements of building a clean, strong, modern and anticorruption administrative system.Originality/valueThis paper extends the analysis on examining the characteristics of candidates and local citizen as well as local political context influencing the elections of local leaders, getting involved in the Vietnam context, still underresearched, especially with reference to political participation of local citizen.

Study on the participation of non-governmental organizations (NGOs) in local governance in Vietnam

The article presents an analysis of the real participation of Vietnamese non-governmental organizations (NGOs) in local government and their interaction with authorities. Particular attention is paid to such areas as access to information, political initiatives, public criticism, public control, self-government, volunteer movement, etc. In the course of the study, the author conducted a sociological survey, the results of which indicate the strengthening of the role of NGOs in local government. The article also notes shortcomings in the work of local authorities in cooperation with NGOs, gives recommendations for improving this activity in the conditions of the modern model of public administration.

Human Resource Development for Digital Transformation in Vietnam: A Need for Reconceptualizing Digital Skills and Competence

Digital transformation (DT) has recently been a key national agenda of many countries, including Vietnam. A significant driver for the change is the government’s digital-ready legislation and sustainable human resource (HR) development. A digitally competent workforce is essential to the transformation as it determines the level of digital adoption and ensures the functioning of digital tools and processes in various fields. However, the extent to which the HR development of digital competence is emphasized in Vietnam’s policy documents remains unanswered. This paper presents findings based on the document analysis of the Prime Minister’s Decision 146 (2022) on enhancing DT awareness and skills of Vietnamese human resources (HRs). Our findings reveal that the Policy was developed based on three core beliefs: raising awareness is a prerequisite, universalizing digital skills is the key to an inclusive digital society, and HR development is imperative to foster DT progress. Despite possessing some strengths, the Policy fails to provide a thorough conceptualization of digital competence, which potentially causes difficulties and inconsistencies during policy implementation. When digital skills are mentioned, they are mostly associated with the basic ability to use digital tools, participate in the digital process, or utilize digital data for decision making. Thus, this paper calls for a reconceptualization of digital skills and competence that are potentially more effective for DT in different contexts. Such a reconceptualization is expected to promote clarity and consistency in DT policymaking and implementation at various levels of governance in Vietnam.
 Keywords: Digital transformation, digital skills, digital competence, human resource development, human resource management, policy analysis.

Regional informal institutions, local governance and internal migration in Vietnam

ABSTRACT Internal migration is an institutionalized process; it is affected not only by economic factors but also by institutional forces. This study thus employs institutional theory to investigate the importance of regional informal institutions and local governance quality on types of migration, as well as their impacts on migrants’ earnings. Examining a set of national internal migration data in Vietnam, we find that pure socialist regions (the north) attract in-migration for job-seeking purposes, while pre-capitalist regions (the south) attract in-migration for business opportunity-seeking purposes. More importantly, migration across regions with dissimilar informal institutions yields adverse effects on migrants’ earnings. Finally, migration from regions with a lower governance quality to regions with a higher governance quality improves migrants’ earnings.

Difference in the role of public governance for enterprises performance of ownership types in Vietnam

ABSTRACT This paper aims to examine the difference in role of public governance on the performance of each business ownership type in Vietnam. Using FGLS regression and Blinder – Oaxaca decomposition methods, the study finds out gaps of enterprises performance among state-owned enterprises, non-state enterprises and FDI enterprises in Vietnam in the period 2016–2019. The variation is due to business characteristics and distinction between ownership types. Besides, the decomposition results show that public governance is a factor of the enterprises performance’s differentiation in Vietnam, and state-owned enterprises are often more favoured than FDI enterprises and non-state enterprises. Incentives for state-owned enterprises are mainly presented in policies, such as information public and transparency, reducing time-cost, reducing informal charges and local fair competition promotion. Meanwhile, incentives for FDI enterprises are mainly presented in policies, such as land policy, information public and transparency, reducing time-cost, fair competition promotion, business support services, local legal frame and security. Specifically, the study implies that improving public governance in Vietnam in the period 2016–2019 has resulted in positively effect on state-owned enterprises’ performance and fairly low effect on those of FDI enterprises and non-state enterprises.

The current situation and solutions of effective university governance in Vietnamese public higher education institutionsThe current situation and solutions of effective university governance in Vietnamese public higher education institutions

The main research objective of this paper is to study the current situation and solutions of effective university governance in public Higher Education Institutions (PHEIs) in Vietnam in the direction of autonomy. The paper uses a method that combines qualitative and quantitative research to analyze theoretical basis and related background theories and assess the current state of university governance in Vietnam. With quantitative research, method is done in the form of online surveys through questionnaires. The topic of the questionnaire focuses on collecting comments on governance activities being carried out at the PHEIs of Vietnam in an autonomous direction. The research results have shown quite clearly the contents related to the issues of governance and administration in the PHEIs, the way of managing and evaluating the performance of the PHEIs. Since then, the authors have proposed a number of groups of solutions for effective university governance at Vietnam’s PHEIs in the direction of autonomy. The solutions and proposals will be the necessary and important practical foundation to innovate and develop policies to promote university autonomy for sustainable and efficient development.

Mismatches between policy planning and implementation on the actively living with flood approach in the Vietnamese Mekong Delta

ABSTRACT Based on a qualitative case study in An Giang province, Vietnam, we mapped the understanding of the ‘Living with Floods’ (LWF) concept and the implementation of three projects to explain the effectiveness of water governance in Vietnam. We have demonstrated how perceptions on the LWF concept differ per government level and the limits of water governance effectiveness. Diverging perceptions undermine the effectiveness of water governance. A framework and a list of indicators are proposed to measure the effectiveness of floodwater governance. Integrating local and social aspects in LWF policies and vertical coordination may help align short-term benefits with long-term adaptation.

The effect of the legal tradition on the law about public corporate governance - recommendations for Vietnam

Along with the process of integration and attracting international capital, the law about public corporate governance of Vietnam also includes the need to receive high standards of the regulations of other countries. However, to ensure the process of completing and exercising law enforcement effectively, helping to reduce enforcement costs for the corporation, the legal tradition of countries is a factor that needs to be considered adequately by the legal origin. The legal tradition has a profound influence on the reform and improvement of the country's modern legal system and is the source of the differences among countries' corporate governance legal systems. Legal traditions have a strong impact on investor protection mechanisms and corporate governance models. Within the scope of this article, the author generalizes the effects of legal traditions on the construction and consolidation of corporate governance laws of legal families in different countries. Simultaneously, the paper focuses on analyzing the case of Vietnam where there is a Civil legal tradition, but the corporate governance model is hybrid with the corporate governance model in countries with a Common law tradition. Consequently, the analysis shows the need to establish new values on the basis of legal traditions to modernize the law on public corporate governance in Vietnam. In addition, propose directions to improve the adjustment efficiency of Vietnam's public company governance law.

State Governance of Coal Mining Industry towards Sustainable Development in Vietnam

Coal is one of the most precious mineral resource, mining and mineral processing contributesto the economic development. In Vietnam, coal mining industry is economically profitable. However, thisindustry shows several disadvantages such as low productivity, wasting resources, negative environmentalimpact. Therefore, the State of Vietnam need to improve the coal mining governance to raise revenues,avoid wasting resources and meet the requirements of sustainable development. The paper aims toevaluate State governance of coal mining industry in Vietnam, and shows the advantages anddisadvantages of this governance. Therefore, this paper proposes the strategies and solutions to improvecoal mining governance in Vietnam towards sustainable development. The structure of the paper includes:(i) Literature review of the importance and requirements of state governance of coal mining industrytowards sustainable development; (ii) State governance of coal mining industry in Vietnam; (iii) Proposalsto improve State governance of coal mining industry towards sustainable development in Vietnam.

Study on Citizen Participation in Local Governance in Vietnam

Abstract Reform to establish a democratic, citizen-centered government is an important orientation in the world and in Vietnam today. For Vietnam, how to promote and strengthen democratic governance must be one of the most crucial issues in order to achieve sustainable development goals. Based on the theoretical framework and survey results, this study evaluates citizen participation in local governance in Vietnam on seven main dimensions, including: (i) Transparency aims to ensure citizens’ right to know; (ii) Participation in elections; (iii) Outlining of policy initiatives; (iv) Policy discussion, social criticism and referendums; (v) Voluntary contributions and cooperation with the government in public-service delivery; (vi) Social self-governance; (vii) Supervision of the social realm. Research shows that the dominance of local government is very evident in the process of citizen participation. The policy implications for countries in transition like Vietnam are that, in order to increase citizen participation in local governance, the openness of local government should be enhanced. Of course, doing this well needs a certain social basis.