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Governmental Ownership of Voluntary Sustainability Information Disclosure in an Emerging Economy: Evidence from Vietnam

Author

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  • Hang Thi Thuy Pham

    (Department of Finance, Banking and Business Administration, Quy Nhon University, 170 An Duong Vuong, Quy Nhon 55113, Vietnam)

  • Sung-Chang Jung

    (College of Business Administration, Chonnam National University, Yongbong-ro 77, Buk-gu, Gwangju 61186, Korea)

  • Su-Yol Lee

    (College of Business Administration, Chonnam National University, Yongbong-ro 77, Buk-gu, Gwangju 61186, Korea)

Abstract

Emerging economies have increasingly paid attention to sustainability issues in the business circle. However, few studies have explored what facilitates sustainability information disclosure. This study examines how corporate governance mechanisms, particularly government ownership, affect sustainability disclosure in an emerging economy—Vietnam. By combining related research streams, including stakeholder theory, institutional perspective, and principal–agent theory, we present a hypothesis on the effect of corporate governance on sustainability reporting. The logistic regression analysis and analysis of variance on 2678 Vietnamese sample firm-years from 2010 through 2016 indicate that government ownership is negatively associated with voluntary environmental and social information disclosure. Additionally, they demonstrate that ownership concentration tends to lower non-financial information disclosure, while individual largest shareholder has a positive effect. These findings provide managers and policymakers with theoretical and practical implications to encourage firms in emerging Asian economies such as Vietnam to adopt sustainability activities and disclose social information.

Suggested Citation

  • Hang Thi Thuy Pham & Sung-Chang Jung & Su-Yol Lee, 2020. "Governmental Ownership of Voluntary Sustainability Information Disclosure in an Emerging Economy: Evidence from Vietnam," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(16), pages 1-21, August.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:12:y:2020:i:16:p:6686-:d:400564
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