Experts and business pundits forecasted drastic changes in Vietnam’s fledgling e-commerce when the Southeast Asian country became an official member of the World Trade Organization (WTO) in 2007. Over the past few years, as part of the Reform – called Doi moi – some Vietnamese enterprises have adopted e-commerce and already benefitted from it. In this research, the authors adapt the Technology-Organization-Environment (TOE) framework and test a model of e-commerce adoption including numerous internal and external factors identified in empirical studies. The final sample of 926 small and medium-sized enterprises in Vietnam includes both adopter and non-adopter firms. The policy implications of this study on promoting e-commerce adoption by SMEs in transition economies, such as Vietnam, are discussed.

The coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic will have a large impact on the publishing industry. This research aims to investigate the influences of the COVID-19 pandemic situation, utilitarian and hedonic motivations on consumer intention to buy books online. It conceptualizes the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic as situational influences, which involve the closure of physical bookstores, health risks associated with visiting such stores, online shopping trend and additional marketing efforts from online bookstores during the pandemic. Data were collected from 275 Vietnamese consumers using an online survey. Multivariate data analysis reveals that the COVID-19 pandemic situation has a positive and significant impact on consumer intention toward online book shopping. Furthermore, while utilitarian motivation exerts a strong effect on consumer intention to purchase books online, the relationship between hedonic motivation and online purchase intention is positive but insignificant. These findings would assist key stakeholders such as publishers and online bookstores to improve the quality of their websites as well as develop their marketing campaigns.

The consumer purchase of environmentally friendly products like organic food is essential to environmental sustainability. This study applies the unique food-related lifestyles (FRL) approach to segment organic food consumers in Vietnam, a country in which there is increasing concern about food safety and quality. The FRL model was intentionally selected because it enables better understanding of how consumers employ food and its culinary aspects to achieve certain values in their lives. Data were obtained from 203 organic food consumers, and a two-step cluster analysis established three identifiable market segments which we named “Conservatives”, “Trendsetters”, and “Unengaged”. The Conservatives were interested in the health aspects of food and preferred natural products. The Trendsetters were interested in healthy food, liked to cook, and held a positive attitude toward organic food and local food products. The Unengaged consumers were not concerned about food-related issues, and they reported the least consumption of organic food. The findings of this study have important academic and practical implications for marketers, policymakers, organizations dealing with food, and socio-environmental organizations that aim to promote organic food consumption. Importantly, marketing efforts should focus on enhancing consumers’ knowledge about organic food and their love of cooking, as well as ensuring adequate availability of organic food.

Drawing on the extended unified theory of acceptance and use of technology (UTAUT2) and task-technology fit (TTF) theory, we developed an integrated research model to explore the factors affecting ChatGPT use and its subsequent effects on whether users continue using ChatGPT and recommend it to others. We also examined the main activities of ChatGPT use as well as the moderating role of curiosity in the relationships between various influencing factors and ChatGPT use. We conducted a quantitative study with data that we collected from 671 users in Vietnam. We found that, first, most UTAUT2 and TTF dimensions affected ChatGPT use. Interestingly, contrary to our expectations, effort expectancy, social influence, and trust had no effect on ChatGPT use. Second, ChatGPT use directly influenced intention to continue using ChatGPT and word of mouth (WOM). Third, intention to continue using ChatGPT had a significant effect on WOM. Finally, we found that curiosity acted as a moderator in only three paths from hedonic motivation, facilitating conditions, and performance expectancy to ChatGPT use. With this study, we contribute a unique research model that combines the UTAUT2 and the TTF (including both trust and curiosity) as well as knowledge about users’ behavioral process in technology adoption by examining a comprehensive process, namely, actual usage– continuance intention to use–recommending. Practical implications for ChatGPT providers, policymakers, and business marketers are also discussed.

Purpose: Facial recognition payment (FRP) has been recently introduced as a new cashless payment method in retail store context. Anchored on information systems and consumer theories, this research aims to investigate the key antecedents and outcomes of consumer attitudes toward this innovative payment method. Design/methodology/approach: This research used a survey method to obtain data from 795 consumers at retail stores in China. The data were then analyzed by different statistical methods, including descriptive statistics, reliability analysis and structural equation modeling. Findings: Results show that perceived usefulness, perceived ease of use and perceived innovativeness positively affect consumer attitudes toward FRP, while perceived risk negatively impacts such attitudes. In addition, consumer attitudes enhance store satisfaction, and hedonic shopping value plays a mediating role in this relationship. Practical implications: This study encourages retailers to adopt FRP that can enhance consumer hedonic shopping value and satisfaction. Originality/value: This study contributes to the literature by explaining both the antecedents and the outcomes of consumer attitudes toward FRP in retail context. The study also provides fresh insights into how such attitudes can improve consumers' shopping values and satisfaction in an emerging market.