Foreign Trade University

Purpose This study investigates how digital sustainability leadership drives new revenue models in emerging market small medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), examining the mediating role of digital knowledge exploitation and moderating effects of radical green innovation. Design/methodology/approach Employing a sequential mixed-methods approach with qualitative interviews for theory development, followed by a multi-stage time-lagged quantitative study with data from 245 SMEs analyzed through Partial Least Squares Structural Equation Modeling (PLS-SEM), PROCESS macro and fuzzy-set qualitative comparative analysis (fsQCA) methodologies. Findings This study finds that digital sustainability leadership positively affects new revenue models both directly and through digital knowledge exploitation as a critical mediating mechanism. Radical green innovation serves as a significant moderator, positively moderating the digital knowledge exploitation pathway. Practical implications The study provides managers with strategic guidance for developing complementary digital and sustainability capabilities to achieve innovative revenue positioning in environmentally conscious business landscapes, highlighting the nuanced role of green innovation in shaping digital transformation pathways for emerging market SMEs. Originality/value These findings extend theory by elucidating how sustainability-focused leadership maximizes digital capabilities for revenue innovation in resource-constrained environments and identifying specific mediation mechanisms through which sustainability initiatives translate into business model innovation.

ABSTRACT This study investigates the impact of AI adoption on employee green innovation in the hospitality industry in an emerging economy. In this study, in‐depth interviews were conducted by interviewing 15 managers in Vietnam while quantitative methods were used by collecting data from 453 employees in hotels to assess the impact of AI use on employee green innovation. The research findings show that AI not only has a direct and powerful impact on employee green innovation but also an indirect impact through proactive learning and the fear of being replaced, not through task adjustments or transformational leadership. The research also indicates that successful green innovation in practice requires coordinated intervention at both levels (leadership and employees) and promotes an agritourism model that connects hotels with stakeholders to achieve biodiversity conservation and green development goals.

Abstract Vietnam’s fisheries industry currently faces issues of illegal, unreported, and unregulated (IUU) fishing and increasing depletion of marine resources by overfishing or fishing overcapacity. Amongst others, the maintenance of harmful fisheries subsidies by the Vietnamese government is considered to accelerate these challenges. Acknowledging such shortfalls, the Vietnamese government has made efforts to participate in international treaties relating to long-term conservation and sustainable use of living marine resources, specifically two mega-regional free trade agreements with provisions on sustainable development of marine resources and elimination of fisheries subsidies. At the national level, the Vietnamese government has introduced different initiatives and instruments to combat IUU fishing and the overexploitation of marine resources. Based on the sole indicator of target 14.6 of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDG), Vietnam indicated its highest probability of achieving the SDG’s target 14.6 of all other SDG 14 targets. As such, even though Vietnam currently maintains some fisheries development supports which could be considered harmful subsidies, the country still seems to be on track for the achievement of SDG’s target 14.6. These findings raise questions as to the comprehensiveness of target 14.6’s indicator and whether members should act further than what indicator 14.6.1 indicates in its IUU fishing combat. This paper aims to analyze the situation of Vietnam concerning its international commitments and domestic regulations relating to fisheries subsidies, and the implementation thereof, to assess the extent to which Vietnam has achieved the SDG’s target 14.6, and how should the country move forward in its 14.6 track.

Environmental pollution, energy scarcity, and advancements in electric vehicle (EV) technology are critical global issues. Combining these factors offers a promising solution for sustainable transportation development, particularly for emerging economies like Vietnam, through the implementation of green mobility solutions via EV passenger transport services (EVPTS). This study investigates the motivations behind the willingness to switch from internal combustion engine vehicles to EVPTS. It focuses on factors related to the perceived benefits of EVs and individual pro-environmental characteristics. Data were collected from a survey of 352 individuals in Hanoi, Vietnam, and analyzed using SmartPLS 4.0 software. The findings revealed a significant positive correlation among environmental concerns, environmental personal norms, perceived inconvenience of private vehicles, and the perceived usefulness of EVPTS. Moreover, excluding the factor of environmental concerns, willingness to switch to EVPTS was positively correlated with perceived usefulness of EV (β=0.380), perceived inconvenience (β=0.318), and environmental personal norms (β=0.251). The major contribution of this study is twofold: First, by selectively combining elements of the Technology Acceptance Model (TAM) and the Norm Activation Model (NAM) and adding the concept of "Perceived inconvenience," our study develops a more comprehensive framework for understanding this behavioral shift. Second, this study demonstrates how perceived benefit attributes (encompassing the benefits of EVPTS and the inconvenience of personal transport), as well as individuals' pro-environmental characteristics, influence their willingness to switch to EVPTS within the context of a developing country. These findings further provide a foundation for suggesting managerial implications to foster the shift to EVPTS in Vietnam.

Purpose This study aims to investigate the factors driving students’ engagement in volunteer activities as a form of citizenship behavior toward their educational institution and these activities’ impacts on sustainable university branding development, using the stimulus-organism-behavior-consequence (SOBC) model. Design/methodology/approach Data were collected from 632 students at two public universities in Vietnam and analyzed using structural equation modeling. Findings Students engage in volunteer behaviors toward their educational institution when satisfied with their university experience. Their citizenship behavior − both overt actions, such as providing feedback, recommending the university and covert responses, such as demonstrating tolerance of service failures − enhances the university’s image. However, students at public universities exhibit low levels of helping behavior, yielding minimal impact on the universities’ brand image. Research limitations/implications Further studies should be undertaken using longitudinal observations to compare changes in student citizenship behavior before and after graduation. Practical implications Strategies to foster student citizenship behavior can improve university branding and ranking. Social implications Encouraging volunteer behaviors fosters sustainability and social responsibility in education. Originality/value This research applies the SOBC model to examine student citizenship behavior in higher education. It investigates how external factors influence student attitudes toward university services, encouraging volunteer behavior and ultimately enhancing the university’s image.

This study proposes a multi-objective, multi-class explainable modeling framework to explain country performance profiles in PISA Mathematics (PISAM), Reading (PISAR), and Science (PISAS). Instead of treating PISA as a simple ranking, the study models each country’s Low/Medium/High-achieving class and asks which structural signals the model relies on when assigning a country to this class. To this end, the study combines governance quality (e.g., accountability, control of corruption, and political stability, etc.), economic and administrative capacity, and regional/institutional location in a single prediction pipeline and explains the resulting classifications with SHAP contributions conditional on class. While the findings do not point to a single, universal determinant, in mathematics, high-level profiles cluster around political stability, economic scale barriers, and regional location, along with governance indicators; in reading, economic capacity is explicitly integrated into this institutional core; and in science, in addition to these two dimensions, the shared institutional dynamics of regional blocs come into play. Furthermore, the study not only produces explanations but also quantitatively reports their reliability. The fit with the model output (Fidelity) and the traceability of the decision logic (Faithfulness) are 0.95/0.85 for PISAM, 0.89/0.92 for PISAR, and 0.89/0.89 for PISAS, which demonstrates high internal consistency and traceability of the decision process. Overall, the study reframes the PISA results not as isolated test scores but as structural profiles generated by the combination of governance, capacity, and region, revealing the policy-relevant levers behind “high performance” as a transparent and reproducible decision-making pipeline. This provides policymakers with an important roadmap for creating a sustainable education policy.

The administration of the investigated metabiotic feed additive to calves demonstrated a positive impact on growth performance. The inclusion of this additive into the diet, which comprised culture fluids with metabolites from Bacillus pumilus B-13250 and Kluyveromyces lactis in a 50:50 ratio, resulted in a statistically significant increase in the live weight of the experimental group compared to the control group. By the end of the first month, the experimental calves were heavier by 4.5 kg (7.2 %, p < 0.05). This difference increased to 7.6 kg (9.3 %, p < 0.05) at the end of the second month and reached 15.2 kg (14.7 %, p < 0.001) by three months of age. The average daily gain (ADG) during the initial application period (0–1 month) was significantly higher in the experimental group by 123.8 g (20.3 %, p < 0.01). From the first to the second month, the ADG remained significantly elevated by 100.0 g (16.2 %, p < 0.01), and between the second and third months, the ADG in the experimental group was 995.2 g, which exceeded the control by 257.1 g (34.8 %, p < 0.001). Furthermore, the calf survival rate was 100 % in the experimental group, compared to 90 % in the control group. The specific metabolite ratio from B. pumilus and K. lactis also positively modulated the gut microbiota in the large intestine, leading to a 6.7 % increase in mesophilic aerobic and facultative anaerobic microorganisms, a 93.5 % rise in lactic acid bacteria, alongside a 52.2 % reduction in coliform bacteria and a 16.7 % decrease in microscopic fungi.

Geopolitical risks, particularly in energy-producing regions, significantly impact national economic development. This study uses the Generalized Variance Decomposition Spectrum Representation method to analyze the relationship between international energy prices (coal, oil, and natural gas) and geopolitical risks. The findings show that geopolitical risk serves as a net transmitter of risk, with a short-term effect on energy prices that diminishes over time. Oil prices are most sensitive to geopolitical risks, while coal prices are least affected. The study also identifies distinct spillover effects between geopolitical behavioral risks and threat risks, with the former contributing more to price fluctuations. The results highlight the complex interplay between energy prices and geopolitical risks, with implications for global economic stability.

Taking advantage of Vietnam’s approval decision of supporting carbon market projects in 2015, this paper examines the impact of carbon market policy as an external shock, using data on Vietnamese listed companies from 2008 to 2023. Conducted within the context of 467 firms in Vietnam, the empirical analysis employs a difference-in-difference model to examine the effect of carbon market policy on dividend policy. Our findings show that the policy makes firms offer better dividends to shareholders and also highlights the moderating impact of earnings uncertainty and green innovation. These results offer invaluable suggestions for corporations to implement carbon trading activities according to the policy to build an economically appealing and environmentally responsible reputation toward external stakeholders, especially investors.