Factors affecting the application of social responsibility accounting: Evidence from plastic manufacturing companies

Abstract

Sustainable development goals (SDGs) issued by the United Nations (UN) have been recognized as the aims for sustainable development of the global economy and companies around the world. In realizing SDGs, social responsibility accounting (SRA) is gradually proving to be an effective quantification tool to enhance transparency and reliability in the social responsibility reports of companies. Therefore, this study aims to evaluate impact factors on SRA in Vietnamese plastics companies, an environmentally sensitive industry. We used a large-scale survey and collected 160 respondents from plastic manufacturing enterprises in the Hanoi area, Vietnam. It is found that three factors, namely, stakeholder pressure, awareness of business managers, and characteristics of plastic enterprises, have positive impacts on the application of SRA in plastic enterprises. Meanwhile, the environmental cost factor hinders the application of SRA. Thereby, the research makes recommendations for plastic manufacturing enterprises in an emerging country like Vietnam on how to best apply SRA to further the SDGs.