As a transitional economy, Vietnam is open to many new marketing experiences. Along with slowly increasing wealth, changes are occurring in the retail environment as stores begin to replace individual vendors. The changing retail environment suggests the usefulness of understanding shopping behaviors relevant to retail settings. The authors examine impulse buying behaviors of urban consumers in Vietnam. The authors conducted an exploratory study that included both qualitative and quantitative methods to provide a general understanding of urban Vietnamese consumers’ impulse buying behaviors. Results show that individualism, age, and income are significantly related to impulse buying behaviors of Vietnamese consumers. In addition, personal-use products are the most common impulse purchase items, despite the collectivist nature of consumers in Vietnam. The authors’ findings suggest that, at least with respect to impulse buying and despite cultural differences, consumers from transitional economies such as Vietnam may share some common tendencies and behaviors with consumers in advanced economies. The authors discuss other observations and conclude with suggestions for further research.

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to investigate the impact of materialistic values on purchase intention (PI) toward green products among consumers in Vietnam and Taiwan, two Asian countries with different levels of economic development. Design/methodology/approach This research employs the extended theory of planned behavior (TPB) with an integration of materialism. To serve the purpose of this study, two consumer surveys were conducted in Hanoi (Vietnam) and Taipei (Taiwan). The structural equation modeling was employed to test the proposed model and hypotheses. Findings This study examined the impact of some antecedents of green PI among consumers in Vietnam and Taiwan, focusing on the indirect impact of materialistic values (through attitude). All five hypotheses received support from the Vietnam data, confirming the significant impacts of materialistic values (i.e. success and happiness) on attitude, and all three antecedents from the TPB model (i.e. attitude, subjective norms and perceived behavioral control) as positive predictors of green PI. For the Taiwan data, the findings were similar to those from the Vietnam data, except insignificant impact of success value on attitude toward buying green products. Originality/value This research is expected to contribute to the extant literature by enriching the knowledge of the interesting and important relationship between materialistic values and green purchase behavior among consumers in two Asian markets where, to the author’s best understanding, only modest research effort has been given to explore this topic.

Tourism is a potential catalyst for transforming subsistence marketplaces, and the quality of life (QOL) for people who live in them. The authors share findings from a study on tourism development in Ha Long, Vietnam, a community transitioning from central economic planning and a focus on heavy and extractive industries, to one that is increasingly dominated by tourism and the industries, goods and services that support it. The authors used multiple methods to gain insights into QOL in Ha Long; those methods included site observations, depth interviews and data collection via an instrument designed and developed by the authors that quantifies perceptions of the evolution of residents’ well-being, including anticipated QOL. Findings indicate that a large majority of citizen-stakeholders in Ha Long generally feel life-quality has improved because of policy changes and subsequent tourism development. Concern is growing, however, that some environmental and societal degradation has accompanied positive economic outcomes. Marketing and policy implications, and opportunities for further research are discussed – not only for Ha Long, but for other actual or hopeful transitioning subsistence marketplaces whose leaders see tourism as a catalyst from economic hardship and subsistence-living toward enhanced QOL.

Vietnam's transition from a centrally planned economy to a free market has generated considerable interest in exploring how traditional values are being challenged by modern ones in the perceptions and attainment of status among consumers. We focused on understanding and developing measures of status orientations and showed that traditional status orientation and modern status orientation are two distinct subconstructs of status orientation. The empirical work involved with scale development and validation and the resultant research and managerial implications are discussed.

This study explores the relationship between service quality and patient satisfaction in the context of the public hospitals in Vietnam, an emerging economy in Asia. Both qualitative and quantitative methods were used in this investigation. To test the hypothesized relationships, a large survey data were collected and multiple regression analyses were performed. The results provided empirical evidence for the impact of three dimensions of service quality (‘tangibles’, ‘accessibility to healthcare services’, and ‘attitude and medical ethics’) on patient satisfaction. Discussion of the research findings is presented. Implications for hospital management and policy makers, and future research directions are also provided.

This study examines the antecedents and consequences of status consumption in the transitional economy of Vietnam. Both qualitative (focus groups and in-depth interviews) and quantitative methods (survey) were employed in this investigation. To test the proposed model and hypotheses, a large consumer survey was conducted in the two biggest cities in Vietnam. The results of Structural Equation Modeling provided empirical evidence for the significant impact of most of the proposed antecedents of status consumption. Specifically, modern status orientation, the ‘success’ component of materialism, and both the individualistic self and collectivistic self were found to have a positive impact on status consumption. Traditional status orientation and consumer ethnocentrism were found to be negatively related to status consumption. The findings also suggested the positive consequences of status consumption on satisfaction with status consumption and satisfaction with life in general. Discussion of the research findings and managerial implications are also provided.

In this article, the authors examine the impact of status orientations on consumer purchase preferences for foreign products, an emerging disposition in Vietnam. Both qualitative (in-depth interviews and focus groups) and quantitative methods (survey with urban Vietnamese consumers) were employed in this investigation. The results of structural equation modeling (SEM) provided empirical evidence for the positive influence of modern status orientation (MSO) on willingness to buy imported products. Traditional status orientation (TSO) was found not to be a predictor of willingness to buy. Consistent with the findings from literature, consumer ethnocentrism was negatively related to willingness to buy imported products. Implications for public policy and marketers pertaining to the emerging proclivity of status-seeking foreign purchase and the social motives underlying this phenomenon are provided

This article describes the development and validation of a new consumer self-concept scale created for use in Confucian societies whose economies formerly were centrally planned but are now moving toward a free-market system. Traditional self and modern self are proposed to be the two subconstructs of the perceptions of self. The empirical work involved with the scale development and validation using data from Vietnam and China are presented. Managerial implications and future research directions are also discussed in this article