Role of corporate social responsibility on firm performance in emerging economy : the mediating role of access to finance and business model innovation

The aim of this study is to perform the impacts of corporate social responsibility (CSR) based on the firms' performance (FP). These investigations also provide the mediating role of access to finance (AF) as well as business model innovation (BMI) using the relationship of CSR and FP. This study principally follows quantitative method. The smart use of the PLS SEM to investigate the data of the SMEs in Vietnam in 2020. The findings of this work indicate an important and positive effect of CSR on FP using the AF and BMI mediated in this relation. The study brings a mechanism by which corporate social responsibility results in firm performance: SMEs with improved CSR practices will be better positioned for AF and BMI those translating into improved competitiveness for improved firm performance in a sustainable direction. The originality of this study is to provide the comprehensive CSR practices based on the financial representations of SMEs in the developing countries. Moreover, this study shows a rare work that establishes a relationship between the financial SMEs performance and CSR practices in Vietnam through the financial and business model innovation as mediation, particularly that favors revisionist view of CSR in the current context of Vietnam. The objective of this work is to provide the important implications for business practitioners and managerial level of SMEs with respect to increase in CSR awareness as well as the importance of CSR long-term strategic planning in their corporate focus strategy.