The Nexus between ESG Reporting and Individual Investment Decisions: Evidence from Vietnam

In recent years, the implementation and disclosure of ESG information has become indispensable for companies around the world. Companies need to publish ESG reports to meet the requirements of shareholders, investors, and society. Therefore, this article aims to study the impact of ESG report information on the investment decisions of individual investors at Vietnamese stock markets. We apply Theory of Planned Behavior (TPB) to examine the "attitude" of individual investors towards ESG reports and the "investment intentions” on ESG reported companies. We employ logistic regression to analyze a usable sample of 232 individual investors. It is found that ESG reports have a nexus with the decision- making of individual investors. The investors pay more attention to Governance (G) information than Social (S) information and Environmental (E) information in ESG reports when making investment decisions. These findings would promote the listed companies and regulatory agencies to disclosure more information and issue regulations on ESG reports to encourage individual investors at emerging stock markets.