IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/bjw/econen/v15y2025i3p77-92.html

Environmental, Social, and Governance impact on financial and market performance of listed companies in the Vietnam’s stock market

Author

Listed:
  • Hien Thu Nguyen

    (Ho Chi Minh University of Technology (HCMUT), Ho Chi Minh City Vietnam National University, Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam)

  • Nghia Dang Nguyen

    (Ho Chi Minh University of Technology (HCMUT), Ho Chi Minh City Vietnam National University, Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam)

Abstract

This study examines the impact of ESG activities, a corporate action that is gaining increasing attention, on firm performance. With a sample of 556 observations from 139 companies of VNX Allshare index being listed on HOSE and HNX within the period of 2018 - 2021, the study discovers that while firms that actively implement ESG earn superior financial performance over those passively implementing ESG, investing in those active-ESG stocks does not realize excess returns. This evidence suggests that market investors have not appropriately evaluated and sufficiently acknowledged the benefits of investing in ESG even though it brings financial outcomes. This research contributes to the understanding of the role and impact of ESG on businesses and investors in Vietnam.

Suggested Citation

  • Hien Thu Nguyen & Nghia Dang Nguyen, 2025. "Environmental, Social, and Governance impact on financial and market performance of listed companies in the Vietnam’s stock market," HO CHI MINH CITY OPEN UNIVERSITY JOURNAL OF SCIENCE - ECONOMICS AND BUSINESS ADMINISTRATION, HO CHI MINH CITY OPEN UNIVERSITY JOURNAL OF SCIENCE, HO CHI MINH CITY OPEN UNIVERSITY, vol. 15(3), pages 77-92.
  • Handle: RePEc:bjw:econen:v:15:y:2025:i:3:p:77-92
    DOI: 10.46223/HCMCOUJS.econ.en.15.3.3574.2025
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://journalofscience.ou.edu.vn/index.php/econ-en/article/view/3574/2372
    Download Restriction: no

    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.46223/HCMCOUJS.econ.en.15.3.3574.2025?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Broadstock, David C. & Chan, Kalok & Cheng, Louis T.W. & Wang, Xiaowei, 2021. "The role of ESG performance during times of financial crisis: Evidence from COVID-19 in China," Finance Research Letters, Elsevier, vol. 38(C).
    2. Osman Gök & Sinem Peker, 2017. "Understanding the links among innovation performance, market performance and financial performance," Review of Managerial Science, Springer, vol. 11(3), pages 605-631, July.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Mohamed Marie & Adel Elgharbawy & Rami Salem, 2026. "Unlocking value: exploring the impact of ESG performance and board gender diversity on mitigating stock price crash risk," International Journal of Disclosure and Governance, Palgrave Macmillan, vol. 23(2), pages 436-457, June.
    2. Hong, Seock-Jin & Zhang, Anming & Caliskan, Ferhat & Idug, Yavuz, 2025. "Impact of environmental, social, and governance (ESG) on productivity of major air cargo integrators," Transport Policy, Elsevier, vol. 167(C), pages 295-306.
    3. Rubio-Andrés, Mercedes & Ramos-González, Mª del Mar & Sastre-Castillo, Miguel Ángel & Gutiérrez-Broncano, Santiago, 2023. "Stakeholder pressure and innovation capacity of SMEs in the COVID-19 pandemic: Mediating and multigroup analysis," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 190(C).
    4. Yang Zhang, 2025. "Does ESG Performance Affect Enterprise Innovation Performance? A Study on Governance and Resource Effects," SAGE Open, , vol. 15(3), pages 21582440251, July.
    5. Costanza Torricelli & Beatrice Bertelli, 2022. "ESG screening strategies and portfolio performance: how do they fare in periods of financial distress?," Centro Studi di Banca e Finanza (CEFIN) (Center for Studies in Banking and Finance) 0087, Universita di Modena e Reggio Emilia, Dipartimento di Economia "Marco Biagi".
    6. Arfaoui, Nadia & Naeem, Muhammad Abubakr & Boubaker, Sabri & Mirza, Nawazish & Karim, Sitara, 2023. "Interdependence of clean energy and green markets with cryptocurrencies," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 120(C).
    7. Valentina Minutiello & Patrizia Tettamanzi & Michael Murgolo, 2026. "Small but Impactful: The Growing Role of SMES in Sustainability and ESG Reporting," Corporate Social Responsibility and Environmental Management, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 33(1), pages 925-940, January.
    8. Billah, Mabruk & Alam, Md Rafayet & Hoque, Mohammad Enamul, 2024. "Global uncertainty and the spillover of tail risk between green and Islamic markets: A time-frequency domain approach with portfolio implications," International Review of Economics & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 92(C), pages 1416-1433.
    9. Zhang, Zhihao, 2023. "Are climate risks helpful for understanding inflation in BRICS countries?," Finance Research Letters, Elsevier, vol. 58(PB).
    10. Heena Thanki & Sweety Shah & Harishchandra Singh Rathod & Ankit D. Oza & Dumitru Doru Burduhos-Nergis, 2022. "I Am Ready to Invest in Socially Responsible Investments (SRI) Options Only If the Returns Are Not Compromised: Individual Investors’ Intentions toward SRI," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(18), pages 1-17, September.
    11. Walker, Thomas & Fernandes, Alisha & Karami, Moein, 2024. "Corporate resilience during crises and the role of ESG factors: Evidence from the COVID-19 pandemic," Finance Research Letters, Elsevier, vol. 69(PB).
    12. Mohamed Marie & Baolei Qi & Ali Meftah Gerged & Haitham Nobanee, 2024. "Exploring Environmental, Social and Governance research in the wake of COVID‐19: A bibliometric analysis of current trends and recommendations for future research," Corporate Social Responsibility and Environmental Management, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 31(6), pages 6131-6149, November.
    13. Ren, Xiaohang & Zeng, Gudian & Zhao, Yang, 2023. "Digital finance and corporate ESG performance: Empirical evidence from listed companies in China," Pacific-Basin Finance Journal, Elsevier, vol. 79(C).
    14. Chen, Zhang-Hangjian & Kang, JingWen & Koedijk, Kees G. & Gao, Xiang & Gu, ZhenHua, 2024. "Short-term market reactions to ESG ratings disclosures: An event study in the Chinese stock market," Journal of Behavioral and Experimental Finance, Elsevier, vol. 43(C).
    15. Lu, Xunfa & Huang, Nan & Mo, Jianlei & Ye, Zhitao, 2023. "Dynamics of the return and volatility connectedness among green finance markets during the COVID-19 pandemic," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 125(C).
    16. Yu, Haixu & Liang, Chuanyu & Liu, Zhaohua & Wang, He, 2023. "News-based ESG sentiment and stock price crash risk," International Review of Financial Analysis, Elsevier, vol. 88(C).
    17. Wu, Shilei & Zhou, Fu-You & Si, Deng-Kui & Hao, Jiawei, 2025. "Does ESG rating policy reduce corporate risk-taking? Evidence from China," Pacific-Basin Finance Journal, Elsevier, vol. 90(C).
    18. Muck, Matthias & Schmidl, Thomas, 2024. "Comparing ESG score weighting approaches and stock performance differentiation," Finance Research Letters, Elsevier, vol. 67(PB).
    19. Rai, Varun Kumar & Bruna, Maria Giuseppina & Hunjra, Ahmed Imran & Pandey, Dharen Kumar & Lal, Madan, 2024. "COVID-19 literature in Elsevier finance journal ecosystem," Economics Letters, Elsevier, vol. 243(C).
    20. Ben Ameur, Hachmi & Ftiti, Zied & Louhichi, Wael, 2025. "Do ESG investments improve portfolio diversification and risk management during times of uncertainty," Journal of International Financial Markets, Institutions and Money, Elsevier, vol. 103(C).

    More about this item

    Keywords

    ;
    ;
    ;

    JEL classification:

    • G11 - Financial Economics - - General Financial Markets - - - Portfolio Choice; Investment Decisions
    • M14 - Business Administration and Business Economics; Marketing; Accounting; Personnel Economics - - Business Administration - - - Corporate Culture; Diversity; Social Responsibility
    • Q01 - Agricultural and Natural Resource Economics; Environmental and Ecological Economics - - General - - - Sustainable Development

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:bjw:econen:v:15:y:2025:i:3:p:77-92. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Vu Tuan Truong (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://journalofscience.ou.edu.vn/index.php/econ-en .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.