Investigating the link between CSR and Financial Performance – Evidence from Vietnamese Listed Companies

Many studies have examined different issues around CSR by using data from western countries to examine the nexus between CSR and Corporate Financial Performance (CFP). There are a few literatures about the same topic in Asian countries. The paper therefore investigates the impacts of CSR on CFP by using Vietnamese data. The paper uses content analysis to examine the nexus described above by creating four hypotheses. Apart from CFP variables, the paper controls for size and risk in the model used. We collected data from the annual reports of 20 Vietnamese companiesfor 3 years giving a total of 60 observations. We document a modest relationship between CSR and CFP among companies in Vietnam. The study also found relationship between the level of debt and CSR but document no relationship between CSR and firm size. Limitations: Content analysis with its measurement problem remains the main limitation of this work. Another limitation is the sample size of 20 companies with a total of 60 observations.The study provides some important insights for our understanding of CSR in developing economies and its effects on CFP in the context of Vietnamese companies.