Corruption, business environment, and firm growth in Vietnam

Corruption is fought by governments in both developing and developed countries because it can harm economic development. However, it has raised the question of why it still exists at a high level in emerging markets like Vietnam. With the data from surveys of the World Bank, Vietnam Competitive Initiative, and Vietnam Chamber of Commerce and Industry, this study provides details of the impact of corruption on firm growth and the effect of business environment on corruption at the firm‐perceived level across different firm ownership identities, namely state‐owned enterprise (SOE), shareholding enterprise (SHE), and foreign‐owned enterprise (FOE), in Vietnam. We demonstrate that corruption has a negative effect on the growth of firms with SHEs, FOEs, and non‐SOEs but a positive effect in SOEs. We also document that the difference in the levels of corruption across different provinces can be influenced by the quality of the local business environment, but again, those impacts are heterogeneous in firms with different ownership identities.