The development of functional foods is key to promoting a healthy diet and preventing certain diseases. This study aims to examine several key factors that affect consumer attitude and intention with respect to purchasing functional foods in an emerging market economy. A research model was developed by extension of the Theory of Reasoned Action (TRA), and then validated through obtaining data from 596 Vietnamese consumers who were interested in functional yogurts using an interviewer-administered questionnaire. Multivariate data analysis reveals that while health consciousness and subjective norm significantly enhance consumers’ attitudes towards purchasing functional yogurts, perceived price of functional yogurts exerts a negative impact on such attitudes. Moreover, subjective norm and attitude appear to be key predictors of consumers’ intentions to buy functional yogurts. These findings extend the extant literature relating to functional food purchase and consumption in emerging markets, and they have several important practical implications for functional yogurt manufacturers, retailers, and policymakers. A major implication is that education and communication programs that aim at increasing consumers’ health consciousness and their awareness of functional foods’ health benefits play an integral role in the success of functional food products such as functional yogurts. Research limitations and future research directions are also presented.

Digital transformation has received increasing attention from organizations and businesses that want to remain competitive in the digital world. Many banks have increasingly been embracing electronic commerce by providing electronic banking (e-banking) services. This study aimed to investigate the impact of electronic service (e-service) quality on customer intention to use video teller machine (VTM) services. Data were obtained from 450 customers in Vietnam, where digital transformation is a priority in the development strategy of the banking industry. Structural equation modeling reveals the positive impact of three e-service quality dimensions, including responsiveness, security, and interface quality, on the perceived ease of use (PEOU), perceived usefulness (PU), and attitude toward using VTM services. The findings also demonstrate that attitudes are positively related to intention toward using VTM services, and time-consciousness strengthens this relationship. These findings extend current knowledge about e-banking services in emerging markets and provide implications for bank managers and technology providers in promoting their service quality and customer use of VTM services.

The COVID-19 crisis has challenged and generated severe impact on the global society, economy, and environment. Under this pandemic context, governments and organizations around the world have issued and strengthened environmental policies and regulations to protect the environment and human health. However, the extant knowledge about how people’s interpretation of environmental policies and regulations influence their psychological well-being in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic is still limited. This study, therefore, investigates the impact of environmental interpretation on psychological well-being with the mediating role of environmentally responsible behavior and the moderating role of psychological contract violation. Using the data from a large sample of 960 residents in China, results of structural equation modeling show a positive relationship between environmental interpretation and psychological well-being, and this relationship is mediated by environmentally responsible behavior. Notably, psychological contract violation has a moderating effect on the indirect effect of environmental interpretation on psychological well-being via environmentally responsible behavior. These findings have several important implications for policymakers in environmental sustainability and pandemic planning.

In this article, we focus on tackling a relative research gap: how country distance (institutional, cultural, economic, and geographical distance) determines the entry mode choice between wholly-owned enterprises (WOEs) and joint venture enterprises (JVEs) in the context of “going global”. Based on a sample of 439 multinational enterprises (MNEs) from 22 different nations that directly invested in the agricultural sector of Vietnam in the period 1996–2019, an empirical investigation has been conducted by employing logistic regression. The results show that as cultural and geographical distances increase, MNEs prefer JVE forms. However, WOE becomes more popular in cases of large economic and institutional distance. Furthermore, entry mode choices of MNEs are also noticeably impacted by freedom of trade.

Based on an integrated model of the theory of planned behavior and self-congruity theory, this paper aims to examine Generation Z’s intention to choose food and beverage destinations. Data was collected from 225 consumers aged between 14 and 25 years old. Partial least squares structural equation modeling (PLS-SEM) was applied to test hypothesized relationships. The results showed a positive and significant effect of electronic word-of-mouth on consumers’ attitudes, subjective norms, perceived behavioral control, and food and beverage destination choice intention. Furthermore, a positive moderating effect of self-congruity exists on the relationship between electronic word-of-mouth and attitudes, as well as those between electronic word-of-mouth and perceived behavioral control. This study provides fresh insights into how food and beverage businesses can leverage social media to attract more Generation Z consumers.