The Impact of Social Accounting Practices on Export Competitiveness and the Moderating Role of Foreign Ownership: Evidence from Listed Seafood Processing Enterprises in Vietnam

Abstract

This study stems from the context where Vietnamese seafood processing enterprises face increasing pressure regarding social standards from international markets, while the actual effectiveness of Social Accounting Practices (SAP) on Export Competitiveness (EC) remains contradictory. Therefore, this research aims to clarify this relationship, particularly by analyzing the moderating role of Foreign Ownership (FO) as a key factor capable of conditioning the impact of SAP. Using a quantitative method, the study employs panel data collected from 28 listed seafood enterprises over the period 2015-2024, forming a dataset of 225 firm-year observations, and applies a fixed-effects regression model (FEM). The research findings illuminate a complex relationship: social accounting practices, by themselves, do not have a direct and statistically significant impact on export competitiveness (β = 0.035, p > 0.10). Instead, the most critical finding reveals that foreign ownership plays a strong and positive moderating role; the impact of SAP on EC only becomes significant in firms with a high proportion of foreign ownership, as demonstrated by the positive and highly significant coefficient of the interaction term (SDI * FO) (β = 0.955, p < 0.01). Furthermore, the study also discovers an inverted U-shaped non-linear relationship, suggesting the existence of an optimal threshold for investment in SAP at approximately 40.5% on the disclosure index, beyond which marginal benefits diminish. Ultimately, the study concludes that the effectiveness of sustainability investments is not a universal linear relationship but is contingent upon conditional factors. Foreign ownership acts as a strategic "catalyst," helping to transform social efforts into tangible competitive advantages in emerging markets