How carbon border adjustment mechanism awareness shapes export strategic responses in Vietnam’s high carbon-emitting industries
Duc Trong Tran, Thuy Hien Thi Nguyen, Ngan Thu Pham, Trang Mai BuiPurpose
This study aims to examine the associations between Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism (CBAM) awareness, perceived compliance costs, green supply chain management, green innovation, export competitiveness and export performance among Vietnamese exporters. It also assesses whether measurement, reporting and verification (MRV) capability and government support condition selected relationships.
Design/methodology/approach
Survey data from 227 firms in CBAM-exposed, carbon-intensive industries were analysed using partial least squares structural equation modelling (PLS-SEM). Robustness tests added firm-level controls, and multi-group analysis compared small, medium-sized and large firms after measurement invariance assessment.
Findings
CBAM awareness is positively associated with perceived compliance costs, green supply chain management and green innovation. Green innovation has the strongest positive association with export competitiveness, whereas perceived compliance costs are negatively associated with competitiveness. The aggregate green supply chain management–competitiveness relationship is non-significant but masks a negative coefficient for small firms, a positive coefficient for medium-sized firms and a negligible coefficient for large firms. Export competitiveness is positively associated with export performance.
Originality/value
Rather than proposing a general theory of CBAM, the paper contributes a firm-level, CBAM-specific dual-pathway model in Vietnam. It shows how an institutional awareness construct is associated concurrently with a compliance-cost pathway and an innovation pathway, while firm-size heterogeneity qualifies the aggregate evidence.