Customer pressure and environmental stewardship: The moderator role of perceived benefit by managers.

Nowadays, environmental issues and cleaner products are interest to many customers, considering whether to buy or continue using a product. This will affect the perception, attitude of upper managers in the process of strategic choices and operational management behavior. This study is based on the Upper Echelon Theory, research under the influence of customer pressure to attitude toward the environmental, decision choices for cleaner production strategies, implementation of environmental management accounting towards achieving green competitive advantage of Vietnamese manufacturing enterprises. In addition, the role of two moderator variables: (1) perceived benefit of cleaner production strategies and (2) perceived benefit of environmental management accounting in the research model is also considered. This study surveyed 234 CEOs of Vietnamese manufacturing enterprises. This study employed PLS-SEM, version 3 for data analysis. Results have shown that all relationships are statistically significant. Moderator variables have a statistically significant and positive impact in relationships in which they play a moderator role. This study helps CEOs realize the importance of producing products that are customer-oriented, environmentally friendly, and the implementation of environmental management accounting will have a strong impact on achieving a sustainable competitive advantage.

The impact of managers' attitudes towards environmental management accounting and green competitive advantage in Vietnam manufacturers.

Environmental management accounting (EMA) has positive support for providing information for green competitive advantage. Based on upper echelons theory (UET), this study examines the impact of upper managers' attitudes towards the environment regarding the choice of green production strategy, EMA implementation, and green competitive advantage (GCA). The moderating role of regulatory pressure (RP) in some relationships is also investigated. This study, conducted in Vietnam, features a data set of 234 medium and large manufacturers. The sample is restricted to medium and large firms only, as these possess sufficient financial resources to operate independent marketing and management accounting functions. Partial Least Squares Structural Equation Modeling (PLS-SEM) is used to test hypotheses. We found that it has a significant positive and direct effect of attitude towards the environment on choosing a green production strategy and the implementation of EMA, thereby achieving a green competitive advantage. We also find that regulatory pressures have a moderator role and are positive in some relationships. This study applied UET in the management accounting field and presented the significance of the compatibility between upper managers' attitudes towards the environment, strategies, and EMA implementation that would improve the long-term competitive advantage of the organizations.