Tom tat: Các nhân tố ảnh hưởng đến việc vận dụng kế toán quản trị chiến lược nghiên cứu tại các doanh nghiệp kinh doanh dịch vụ du lịch ở các tỉnh miền Trung Việt Nam.

Các nhân tố ảnh hưởng đến việc vận dụng kế toán quản trị chiến lược nghiên cứu tại các doanh nghiệp kinh doanh dịch vụ du lịch ở các tỉnh miền Trung Việt Nam.Các nhân tố ảnh hưởng đến việc vận dụng kế toán quản trị chiến lược nghiên cứu tại các doanh nghiệp kinh doanh dịch vụ du lịch ở các tỉnh miền Trung Việt Nam.Các nhân tố ảnh hưởng đến việc vận dụng kế toán quản trị chiến lược nghiên cứu tại các doanh nghiệp kinh doanh dịch vụ du lịch ở các tỉnh miền Trung Việt Nam.Các nhân tố ảnh hưởng đến việc vận dụng kế toán quản trị chiến lược nghiên cứu tại các doanh nghiệp kinh doanh dịch vụ du lịch ở các tỉnh miền Trung Việt Nam.Các nhân tố ảnh hưởng đến việc vận dụng kế toán quản trị chiến lược nghiên cứu tại các doanh nghiệp kinh doanh dịch vụ du lịch ở các tỉnh miền Trung Việt Nam.Các nhân tố ảnh hưởng đến việc vận dụng kế toán quản trị chiến lược nghiên cứu tại các doanh nghiệp kinh doanh dịch vụ du lịch ở các tỉnh miền Trung Việt Nam.Các nhân tố ảnh hưởng đến việc vận dụng kế toán quản trị chiến lược nghiên cứu tại các doanh nghiệp kinh doanh dịch vụ du lịch ở các tỉnh miền Trung Việt Nam.Các nhân tố ảnh hưởng đến việc vận dụng kế toán quản trị chiến lược nghiên cứu tại các doanh nghiệp kinh doanh dịch vụ du lịch ở các tỉnh miền Trung Việt Nam.Các nhân tố ảnh hưởng đến việc vận dụng kế toán quản trị chiến lược nghiên cứu tại các doanh nghiệp kinh doanh dịch vụ du lịch ở các tỉnh miền Trung Việt Nam.Các nhân tố ảnh hưởng đến việc vận dụng kế toán quản trị chiến lược nghiên cứu tại các doanh nghiệp kinh doanh dịch vụ du lịch ở các tỉnh miền Trung Việt Nam.Các nhân tố ảnh hưởng đến việc vận dụng kế toán quản trị chiến lược nghiên cứu tại các doanh nghiệp kinh doanh dịch vụ du lịch ở các tỉnh miền Trung Việt Nam.18 MINISTRY OF EDUCATION AND TRAINING UNIVERSITY OF ECONOMY HO CHI MINH CITY PHAN THI THUY NGA FACTORS AFFECTING STRATEGIC MANAGEMENT ACCOUNTING APPLICATION – AN EMPIRICAL STUDY IN TOURISM BUSINESSES.

MINISTRY OF EDUCATION AND TRAINING UNIVERSITY OF ECONOMY HO CHI MINH CITY PHAN THI THUY NGA FACTORS AFFECTING STRATEGIC MANAGEMENT ACCOUNTING APPLICATION – AN EMPIRICAL STUDY IN TOURISM BUSINESSES IN THE CENTRAL OF VIETNAM MAJOR : ACCOUNTING CODE : 9340301 DOTORAL THESIS - SUMMARY Ho Chi Minh – 2023 The work was completed at University of Economics Ho Chi Minh City Scientific instructors: Dr Huynh Loi Dr Le Dinh Truc Reviewer 1: Reviewer 2: Reviewer 3: The thesis will be presented to the University Dissertation Board at: At hour day month year A thesis can be found at the library: 1 Motivation INTRODUCTION Managers could not rely on internal information to make decisions, but they had to connect with external information, namely information from competitors (Simmond, 1981), that was changed by the business environment That helped managers to position themselves, survive and thrive in the uncertain environment at that time SMA has been developing for nearly 40 years But many perspectives on SMA have been introduced It expanded to explore other aspects such as customers (Bromwich, 1990), marketing (Roslender et al., 1998), the development of new techniques providing traditional management accounting with the information for processing in costing, controlling, performance measurement, etc., as well as process research to implement strategic management of the company (Dixon & Smith, 2003; Lord, 1996) Up to now, there has still been a limitation that there is no consistent theoretical framework like traditional management accounting The topic of SMA has been researched and developed continuously Research issues are not only about the concept and content but also the direction of applying SMA in enterprises in many different fields The number of empirical studies on SMA from 2000 to now shows that the level of practical application has also increased significantly, making the concept of SMA no longer too strange compared to the past The findings in empirical research have raised the role, position, and value of applying SMA in practice In addition, reviewing the literature, many empirical studies have recorded that applying SMA has led to better business performance SMA techniques can help enterprises rationally allocate limited resources and integrate internal and external information to help managers make strategic decisions (Ma et al., 2022), especially in an uncertain environment that requires businesses to fierce competition for survival and development The diversified development of industries and activities is considered a condition to promote change and application of many new management accounting systems such as SMA (Ghandour, 2021) and many empirical SMA studies in many different fields and industries That demonstrates the difference in the application of management accounting in general and SMA in particular, which is explained by the contingency theory of the appropriateness of a specific system, the accounting system, with the environment, scope, technology, etc (Otley, 1980) Tourism has different characteristics from other industries (Evans, 2015) The connection, association, and cooperation among many stakeholders help to create tourism products Moreover, it significantly contributes to some countries’ economies (Compas et al., 2022) Especially those countries and territories with particular characteristics and differences, including provinces in Central Vietnam According to the Vietnam Tourism National Administration’s annual tourism report, tourism has been a fast-growing industry over the past decade It will be a critical economic sector in Vietnam by 2030 Tourism in the central provinces will contribute a significant part of the economy of the locality and the whole country because of its natural characteristics, advantages in competitive geographical advantages, about natural resources, with typical products of sea, island, and cultural resort tourism To compete, develop and integrate with the world, besides natural conditions, enterprises need to have a suitable business strategy and a business chain cooperation Changing thinking and awareness in applying new management tools are necessary to provide more quality and compelling information It shows that the study of SMA in tourism will be essential because the research results will contribute to the synthesis of problems that have arisen and are arising in reality On that basis, new issues of significance will be discovered The core helps managers understand and effectively exploit this tool in establishing business policies to solve the problem of economic position in the tourism business posed in the central provinces From practical requirements and theoretical contributions, especially in the tourism service industry, the author researches the topic: “Factors affecting strategic management accounting application – An empirical study in tourism business in the central of Vietnam.” Research objective Overall objective: The main objective is to determine the factors affecting the application of SMA in tourism business enterprises To improve the meaning of using this tool, it is necessary to determine the value of the tool through its performance In addition, this study also identifies the intermediary role of the SMA application to emphasize the role, position, and value of the application to increase the need for managers when applying this tool Specific Objectives: Specific goals are specifically defined: First: Test the impact of groups of factors on people (characteristics of the Board of Directors, the Board of Management; the accountant’s participation in the strategic decision-making process), on the organization (business strategy, scale, information quality of information systems, management decentralization) and environment (competition, cooperation network) affect the application of SMA Second: Test the direct impact of the application of SMA on business performance Third: Test the intermediary role of the application of SMA in the relationship between factors of cooperation network and business performance Research question The study was conducted to answer research questions such as: (1) What factors positively affect the application of SMA, specifically in THE TOURISM business enterprises in the central provinces of Vietnam? (2) What is the degree of influence of factors on the application of SMA in THE TOURISM business enterprises in the central provinces of Vietnam? Does SMA play an intermediary role in the relationship between new factors (network collaboration) and business performance? Research's object and scope - Research object: To study the influence of factors related to people, organizations, and the external environment on the application of SMA - Research scope: + Scope of content: The thesis only studies the application of SMA techniques + Scope of research space: The study was carried out in tourism businesses in the central provinces of Vietnam + Time scope: the study was conducted from May 2017 to the present, in which interviews with experts were conducted from September 2018 to March 2019, and a data collection survey was carried out from November 2019 to December 2020 Research Methods This research is carried out in a mixed method, which combines qualitative and quantitative methods After synthesizing and approaching research theories, the author first implemented the qualitative method to identify factors, scales, and proposed research models through interviews with experts related to this field and scientific publications in previous related studies The quantitative method is used through an algorithm with relevant content, such as sending surveys to individuals who are Directors, Deputy Directors, Chief Accountants, and managers of tourism businesses to collect data Then using SmartPLS, SPSS software to make statistics of sample characteristics, evaluate the measure, the impact of factors, and the study results From there, give theoretical and practical implications to help improve the application of SMA in tourism service businesses and enterprises in general Research contributions The thesis sheds light on the research approach, based on stochastic theory to determine the factors affecting the application of SMA as well as the impact of the application of this tool on business performance, with a focus on SMA techniques, in tourism businesses in the central provinces of Vietnam The study has summarized the theoretical and empirical evidence tested through the PLS-SEM model The finding will prove that applying SMA in tourism enterprises is necessary to recognize and select internal, and external factors, such as business strategy, Decentralization, network collaboration, Competition, and Board of Diretors’characteristics At the same time, SMA application has been positively associated with performance in market share growth, revenue growth, profit margin growth, and rapid growth Return on investment, stable in development, meet customer satisfaction, increase service quality, develop personnel and maintain reputation and brand The results of this study continue to reinforce the theory and empirical evidence that the application of strategic management accounting should always put in the compatible impact relationship on some factors from the environment However, it also points out a new problem that tourism businesses need to pay attention “Effect of cooperative network on the application of strategic management accounting” The unique point helps to see a new factor affecting SMA application from the point of view of value chains and supply chains in business, thereby showing the path of competition by cooperation that will contribute to the tourism businesses’ capacity and improve their performance Moreover, the success of these businesses can only be achieved by different business strategies in the unique natural conditions of the central region of Vietnam This also helps to reinforce the value of applying randomness theory in the study of SMA In addition, the results also provide specific knowledge about SMA for training and research, helping managers make policies to support cooperation and create a compelling competitive environment effectively, allocates the structure of trained human resources At the same time, it helps businesses have a closer relationship with the management level of enterprises in countries with developed economies Structure of the thesis The thesis has a structure consisting of chapters and is presented in the following layout and main content: Chapter 1: Literature review Chapter 2: Theoretical Chapter 3: Methodology Chapter 4: Research results and discussion Chapter 5: Conclusion and Implications CHAPTER LITERATURE REVIEW 1.1 Review foreign studies 1.1.1 Research on SMA application The identification and application of SMA are growing and spreading rapidly from developed to developing countries The level of application of SMA, specifically the techniques of SMA, is relatively high; this determines the role, position, and importance of this tool in corporate governance Research on applying SMA, specifically SMA techniques, is carried out in the case studies of Guilding et al (2000), Lisa Jack (2005), Cadez & Guilding (2008), Cinquini & Tecnucci (2010), Turner et al (2017), Kalkhouran et al (2017), Arunruangsirilert & Chonglerttham (2017); Ojra et al (2022), Marten et al (2022) 1.1.2 Research on factors affecting SMA application Reviewing previous studies show that many factors affect SMA application First group factors about humans such as corporate governance characteristics, characteristics of the board of directors, management board, senior managers, and accountants Second group factors about structure: Decentralization, business strategy, size, information quality of information systems, market orientation, enterprise structure, etc Third group factors about the environment: Uncertainty environment, competition, economic crisis, etc Some related case studies: Cravens and Guilding (2001), Cadez & Guilding (2008), Cinquini & Tecnucci (2010), Lachmann et al (2013), Pavatos (2015), Arunruangsirilert & Chonglerttham (2016), Turner et al (2017), Kalkhouran et al (2017), Pavatos & Kostakis (2018), Cescon et al (2019), Hasid-Alsayed (2021), Alvarez et al (2021), Marten et al (2022), and Campos et al (2022) 1.1.3 Research on the benefits of applying SMA Stemming from the meaning and purpose of applying SMA, empirical studies have also assessed the value of this tool for business performance The results show that when enterprises use more SMA, they achieve more performance Typical is the study of Hoque & James (2000), Cadez & Guilding (2008), Kalkhouran et al (2017), Ojar et al (2021), Marten et al (2021) 1.2 Review domestic studies 1.2.1 Research on the application of management accounting, SMA The study on SMA and the application of SMA made in Vietnam can first be mentioned by Doan Ngoc Phi Anh (2012), followed by the studies of Trinh Hiep Thien (2018), Bui Thi Truc Quy (2021), Le Thi My Nuong (2021), Dang et al (2021), Nguyen & Nguyen (2021), Vu et al (2022) Those prove that SMA research has also been recognized and implemented, especially in recent years 1.2.2 Research on factors affecting the application of SMA in enterprises According to the studies of Doan Ngoc Phi Anh (2012), Trinh Hiep Thien (2018), Bui Thi Truc Quy (2021,) Le Thi My Nuong (2021), Dang et al (2021), Nguyen & Nguyen ( 2021), Vu et al (2022) Most identified many factors affecting SMA application in enterprises, including Decentralization, Competition, business strategy, technology level, staff level, company culture, etc Most are done for manufacturers 1.2.3 Research on the benefits of applying SMA The benefits of applying SMA are evaluated through the influence of SMA application on businesses’ performance In addition, it was found in its mediating role in the relationship between environmental, human, or organizational factors and the results achieved by the enterprise From this perspective, there is a study by Trinh Hiep Thien in his doctoral thesis in 2018 He showed the intermediary role of SMA in the relationship between factors of intellectual capital and performance Thanks to the SMA application, intellectual capital has an impact on increasing the efficiency of these companies 1.3 Review previous studies 1.3.1 About the object and scope of the survey Many research subjects were carried out, but most were for SMEs, especially in the tourism segment The primary data collection survey subjects were hotels, not to mention other tourism business activities such as travel, transportation, entertainment, shopping, etc 1.3.2 About research methods The primary methodology uses the quantitative method, and only some studies apply qualitative and quantitative methods The current research model has a more complex structure, so many new analytical techniques, such as CB-SEM and PLS-SEM, are also applied to explore more relationships 1.3.3 About grounded theory The background theory used in most empirical studies is also quite rich for building appropriate research hypotheses Most researchers used contingency theory This theory is considered the dominant theory in studying management accounting, helping to explore many random factors suitable to the conditions and characteristics of each research object 1.3.4 About the factors and factors measurement The factors discovered and tested are increasing, be it a group of elements or individual components that make up that factor Thanks to the research results, managers can know the strengths and weaknesses of people, organizations, and the environment to improve the SMA application Different scales can measure these factors, depending on the background theory and characteristics of the subject and scope 1.4 Research gaps Overview and evaluation of the results of previous studies, two gaps identified for implementation in the thesis are: Firstly, there is a gap in new factors - network collaboration SMA was born in a competitive environment Still, cooperation between enterprises will generally create competitive advantages Cooperation activities will push managers to take advantage of the advantages when using SMA information to achieve a more sustainable competitive advantage That is the gap identified when exploiting the cooperative network combined with the competitive factor, which has not been done in previous studies Second, about the research object and research scope In Vietnam, studies in SMA have also appeared in recent years, but the research object on applying SMA is mainly cost techniques Consumption, Logistic, Sugar Industry For the tourism field, there are studies in the world mentioned, but the main object is hotels At the same time, the tourism service industry has many other service sectors such as restaurants, travel, transportation, and entertainment Those are the research objectives and scope that have not been done in previous studies 1.5 Research directions From the gaps identified above, the author again clarifies the correlation among three group factors, a group of human factors such as the characteristics of the Board of Directors, the Board of Directors; accountants’participation in strategic decision-making; a group of organizational factors such as decentralization, information quality of information systems, business scale and strategy; and a group of environmental factors such as competition and network collaboration Therefore, considering and evaluating, clarifying the advantages or disadvantages of aspects when applying SMA, and assessing the effect of SMA application on performance in the tourism business CHAPTER 2: THEORETICAL 2.1 Theoretical foundations of strategic management accounting 2.1.1 Definitions of SMA There are many different views on SMA However, the perspective of SMA is used most in empirical studies to increase performance (Guilding et al., 2000); Cadez & Guilding, 2008) Although there are many views, SMA is generally defined as accounting for strategic management or management accounting to help implement business strategies (Ward, 2004) and always has characteristics that show differences compared to traditional management accounting (Wilson, 1995) the following: SMA has an outward focus; SMA’s information is financial and non-financial information; SMA is not constrained by the internal system or the set target system; Support orientation and strategy implementation for enterprises; SMA is future 2.1.2 The role of SMA information The role of management accounting increasingly clearly shows a broader perspective and point of view, is more flexible and associated with management, helps to increase value for customers and shareholders, and helps to support inspection, assessment, and resource allocation In particular, the role of SMA is more sophisticated in creating value through the efficient implementation of resources (Abdel-Kader & Luther, 2003) Thus, to make quality decisions, bring high efficiency, and help businesses achieve their goals, managers need financial and non-financial information, which is collected not only in the past and present but also predictive of future problems Moreover, it is collected from outside and inside enterprises to ensure two necessary and sufficient factors, quantity and quality factor of information when it is collected and provided 2.1.3 SMA application With the role of providing information when of a management tool, the application of SMA and SMA techniques is understood as a systematic process to record, process, synthesize and evaluate information related to specific objects and content According to Cadez & Guilding (2008), the SMA application has been widely recognized From the quite popular results and the role of new SMA techniques, in this study, the SMA techniques include 16 techniques according to Cadez & Guilding (2008), adding two, namely ABC and environmental management accounting , bringing the total number of SMA techniques to 18 Based on the concept of SMA introduced by the British Association of Notary Public Accountants (CIMA, 2005), the application of SMA is the recording, processing, synthesizing, and evaluation of information related to 18 techniques according to the British Association of Certified Public Accountants (CIMA, 2005) mentioned 2.1.4.1 Costing 2.1.4.2 Planing, control, and performance measurement 2.1.4.3 Strategic decision-making 2.1.4.4 Competitor accounting 2.1.4.5 Customer accounting 2.1.4.6 Environmental management accounting 2.2 Overview of the tourism business 2.2.1 Characteristics of tourism products and tourism business activities Today, along with the development of society, the perception of enjoyment has changed a lot, making the demand for tourism constantly increasing Experiential activities and tourism products and services are now highly diverse and rich, meeting all the requirements of customers as well as ensuring tourism needs for all walks of life Tourism activities are constantly innovating and developing in diversity, combining many single services such as entertainment, entertainment, dining, resort, etc To create a system of products and services that are homogeneous but have different characteristics because many tourism businesses design them 2.2.1.1 Features of tourism products and services Because tourism products and services are a combination of goods and services, they have the following characteristics: commodity products; a product or service; Intangibility, Simultaneousness between production and consumption; Complementary properties; Inelasticity; Heterogeneity 2.2.1.2 Characteristics of tourism business activities The tourism business is the provision of tourism products According to the Business Tourism Law, tourism services include the following industries: travel business, tourist accommodation business, tourist transport business, tourism development business, tourist attractions, and other tourism services The change and development of tourism products, services, and activities have a specific influence on management Each activity can be isolated or concentrated depending on the business characteristics of the enterprise It also changes the management and control activities of tourism service businesses in Vietnam and the central provinces 2.2.2 Characteristics of tourism service and tourism business activities in central provinces 2.2.2.1 Tourism characteristics in the central provinces 2.2.2.2 Characteristics of tourism service business activities in Central provinces 2.3 Grounded theory The contingency theory is applied to build and develop related research hypotheses 2.4 Research hypothesis From the gaps identified in Section 1.4.1, based on the above theoretical framework, this study will evaluate the influence of factors as well as develop the following corresponding research hypotheses: 2.4.1 Characteristics of the Board of Directors, Board of Management, and SMA application Characteristics of the Board of Directors, Board of Management, is a factor belonging to human factors Moreover, these individuals belong to the Board of Directors; the Board of Management has the right to apply SMA by requesting the necessary information for strategic decision-making Therefore, the author proposes hypothesis H1: H1: The characteristics of the Board of Directors and the Management Board have a positively associated with the SMA application 2.4.2 Accountants’ participation in the strategic decision-making processes and the SMA application Accountants have traditionally been limited to providing relevant information for planning, control, and decision-making purposes (Roslender & Hart, 2003) This correlation result was proposed by Cadez & Guilding (2008) and also found by Bui Thi Truc Quy (2021) when studying in Vietnam Moreover, accountants’ participation in management differs in each industry and business area (Aver & Cadez, 2009) Therefore, hypothesis H2 is proposed: H2: Accountants’ participation in the strategic decision-making processes a positively associated with the SMA application 2.4.3 Decentralization and SMA application This relationship has also been studied and published in many previous studies, which show that management hierarchy helps managers know how to divide responsibilities so that they can collect and process information related to the application of SMA Research by Doan Ngoc Phi Anh (2012), Pavatos (2015) has demonstrated that the above correlation is positive, especially Bui Thi Truc Quy (2021) gives opposite results when researching manufacturers in South Vietnam Therefore, hypothesis H3 is proposed H3: Decentralization of management has a positively associated with the SMA application 2.4.4 Information quality of information systems and SMA application An information system consists of interrelated elements to collect, process, store, and provides to users to achieve predetermined goals Pavlatos & Paggios (2009a) found a relationship between IS information quality and hotel cost system design Therefore, information from a quality information system is expected to promote the use of more SMA Hypothesis H4 is proposed: H4: Information quality of information systems has a positively associated with the SMA application 2.4.5 Business strategy and SMA application This is a decisive factor in the emergence of the concept of SMA, the results from many previous studies show that the influence of this factor on the application of SMA is there, but the point of view as well as the view on business strategy The diversity also creates many differences in the research results of Cadez & Guilding (2008), Cescon et al (2017), Cinquini & Tecnucci (2010), Pavatos (2015, Turner et al (2017)) Therefore, hypothesis H5 is proposed as follows: H5: Enterprises implementing business strategies have a positively associated with the SMA application However, to know which business strategy has more affected the SMA application in enterprises, comparative studies implemented with each business strategy have been conducted quite a lot Most related studies have suggested that implementing a differentiation strategy will encourage enterprises to apply SMA more (Abder - Luther, 2003; Bains & Langfield - Smith, 2003; Chenhall & Langfield - Smith, 1998) Therefore, hypothesis H5a is proposed: H5a: Enterprises implementing differentiation strategy will use SMA more when implementing others 2.4.6 Size and SMA application 12 processes, decentralization, information quality of information systems, competition, application of SMA, and performance For variables of size and business strategy, the scale used is the nominal scale Respondents only need to choose the available answers 3.2.2 Conduct expert interviews Expert interviews, specifically hand-to-hand interviews, were conducted to refine again the variables, measures, and scales that the author had initially inducted to develop the proposed research model as above This method is carried out in the following order: preparing questions, selecting experts, contacting for interviews, and synthesizing interview results 3.2.2.1 Prepare questions The identification of variables, measured expressions, and aggregated scales need to be evaluated, refined, and confirmed to ensure they are suitable for the study's objective and scope Based on the results, the author designed a questionnaire with the following questions: The first is the measurement of SMA application, which according to experts, must be used in tourism businesses The second is the expression that measures each variable that is analyzed and listed accordingly The third is a scale, on the Likert The fourth is to discuss variables, measurement expressions, and scales of new variables that the author has inducted in the study of applying specific SMA in the tourism business in central Vietnam The questionnaire is designed into three parts The first part is about personal information, the second is about the techniques of SMA application, and the third is about the evaluation and selection of measured expressions for the relevant variables In addition, besides the questionnaire, the discussion of specific cooperation issues in tourism business enterprises is also a content raised in the exchange with experts Specifically, the content of this section is as follows: Can you explain more about the collaborative activities in the tourism business? What issues you cooperate with? Cooperate with whom? What is your purpose in collaborating with them? In your opinion, does this cooperation affect the information needs of managers in the management decision-making process? In your opinion, Do these cooperation issues motivate managers to explore and learn tools for processing related information? 3.2.2.2 Selecting experts Hand-to-hand interviews were selected for implementation In selecting experts to interview, the criteria are the following: - Professionals in management accounting with more than 15 years of working experience; - Being a person with related research and working experience of more than 15 years With these two criteria, the experts who are mainly selected are currently teaching at universities and specializing in management accounting and SMA They have experience in management, presently holding essential positions such as Director, Chief Accountant, and manager in the tourism business 3.2.2.3 Contact and conduct an interview Before the interview, the author contacted the experts via phone to inform them about the main content and the interview period Due to time constraints and from the location of experts, the interview was carried 13 out from September 2018 to March 2019 and was conducted according to the following steps: Test interview; Complete the formal questionnaire and perform a whole discussion 3.2.2.4 Summary of interview results At the end of each interview, the author summarizes the new findings and takes notes for the following discussion The interview process ended with the 8th expert because no new problems arose Specific content is presented in chapter 4, qualitative research results section 3.3 Quantitative research methods Under the objectives, research object, and scope, the author chooses a linear structural model, also known as SEM, to collect and analyze data To test the proposed research model, specifically the SEM model, the author uses the least squares method (PLS) called the PLS-SEM technique, also known as PLS path modeling (PLS path modeling) Regarding estimation procedures, PLS-SEM is based on the usual least squares (OLS) regression method (Hair et al., 2017) The specific order of execution is as follows: 3.3.1 Design the content of the official questionnaire Based on the proposed model (Figure 2.2), the survey is designed with five main parts: - Part one: Respondent’s information Including three questions about working position, working time, and education level - Part two: General information about the tourism business Designed into five questions: business name, address, capital size, business operation time, and business strategy in progress - Part three: Actual situation of applying SMA in enterprises The related question is whether enterprises have used SMA techniques such as recording, processing, synthesizing, and evaluating information related to the contents of each SMA technique's application or not to assess the SMA application and focus on SMA techniques in the tourism business Each technique is measured on a Likert scale from level (Not used/Used very little) to level (Used a lot) The listed SMA techniques have content explanations so that readers can understand the main content to assess their relevance to the application of the unit - Part four: Assess the degree of influencing factors Questions expressed the content for independent variables’ measurement to help the respondents understand and evaluate the correct level according to the actual situation at their enterprises The results will be measured for each variable and collected in the third and fifth sections - Part 5: Assess the tourism business’ performance The question is designed to collect information about financial and non-financial performance The results will be tested for correlation with the results of parts three and part four 3.3.2 Test, evaluate and adjust the content of the Survey The questionnaire was sent to 10 tourism businesses first After being recovered, this data was aggregated, evaluated the questionnaire content, and adjusted to suit the requirements more consistently and accurately 3.3.3 Determine sample size 14 3.3.3.1 Identify the research crowd Tourism businesses, including hotels, resorts, travel agencies, entertainment services, etc., were selected in the central provinces of Vietnam, from Hue to Khanh Hoa 3.3.3.2 Survey sample characteristics The selected sample of enterprises ensures the following criteria: Different sizes; Business many types of tourism such as hotels, restaurants, transportation, and travel Priority is given to businesses with many branches in the central provinces or many different tourism businesses Respondents are members of the Board of Directors, Chief Accountants, accountants, and managers at all levels in many other departments These individuals are chosen because they belong to the management level, so they understand the business strategy At the same time, they can advise and propose implementation decisions to support the Board of Directors and Board of Directors in making decisions during each stage of strategic management implementation 3.3.3.3 Determine sample size According to Hair et al (2017), the sample size determined in the PLS-SEM model analysis is driven by the 10-fold rule With the variables and expressions measuring each variable presented in section 3.2.1, the maximum number of observed causal variables used to measure a single research variable is 18, which is an observed variable of the SMA application So the sample size needs at least 10 * 18 = 180 units However, the more samples are collected, the more reliable the reliability will be, despite the time and cost constraints Therefore, the author collects at least 300 sample units because this is the recommended amount when analyzing data according to the SEM model (Tabachnick & Fidell, 2001) as part of the PLSSEM model of this study 3.3.4 Official survey 3.3.4.1 Sampling method To ensure the quality of the collected questionnaires, the author selects a non-probability sample Specifically, the collected sample will be concentrated in provinces/cities with the most vital tourism development in the Central region: 85% from Hue, Da Nang, Quang Nam, and Khanh Hoa, and 15% from other provinces/cities The sample collection was carried out conveniently method because the survey period started from November 2019 to December 2020, during which tourism businesses in some provinces and cities were forced to close to prevent the COVID-19 epidemic, so direct access to the respondents of these units faced many difficulties 3.3.4.2 Survey process With a reasonably large sample size, the questionnaire was designed into two forms: a direct using preprinted hardboards and interviews with natural notes from relevant subjects at enterprises and combined surveys, and monitoring online with a board designed on GoogleDocs are sent via email through messaging applications such as Facebook, Zalo, Tourism Associations in provinces/cities, and a few tour operators to support sending boards 3.3.5 Data collection and processing For the direct survey, the processing will be carried out as soon as the questionnaire is received by entering data into an excel file with an available format and monitoring the collected quantity For the online, 15 the data collected is backed up in an Excel table During this process, if the answer sheets have errors such as blanks or the same business name due to belonging to the same branch, they will be disqualified for further collection After filtering for the final data set, the data is encrypted for further processing Coding is done to input data into the processing software and produces research results, ensuring easy understanding and no confusion when reading results 3.3.6 Common method variance bias According to Williams and Brown (1994), the common method variance bias often increases the observed variable correlation among the variables evaluated with the same method Cote and Buckley (1987) also agree that general practices often cause systematic measurement errors to increase or decrease the observed relationships between scales Researchers load all observed variables into an exploratory factor analysis and test with a non-factor rotation (single factor fixation) solution to determine whether a single dominant factor is present best A single dominant factor accounting for most of the variance (>50%) suggests that a general methodological conflict is current (Cooper et al., 2020) 3.3.7 Multi-structural model testing After processing, coding data is updated into SmartPLS 3.0 software to evaluate the parameters to measure each fake relationship's reliability, convergence, difference value, and significance level Theory and significance of the research model, or in other words, to test the PLS-SEM multi-structure model, the data processing and analysis is performed according to the following procedure: From the extracted results, read and analyze the results according to the following contents: * Description of the data * Evaluation of the measurement model - Quality of observed variables Assessed by the Outer loading index of the observed variables, the variable is considered quality when the outer loading index is above or equal to 0.7 (Hair et al., 2017) - Reliability of measured expression The reliability of the measured expressions is assessed from the results of two indexes (a) Cronbach Alpha and (b) composite reliability index (Composite Reliability - CR) When Cronbach’s Alpha >= 0.7 and 16 CR >=0.7, it proves that each variable's measurement is reliable enough to perform the following testing steps - Convergence This index is shown when analyzing data on SmartPLS software This is the average variance index AVE (Average Variance Extracted), which represents the minimum level of explanation of the research variable with each observed variable According to Hair et al (2010), the AVE must reach 0.5 or higher to meet the requirements for the convergence of the variables in the model Combining the Outer loading index and the convergence will eliminate the uncertain observed variables, thereby selecting the appropriate observed variables with high reliability and convergence for the next test - Discriminant validity Discriminant validity was tested using the Fornell-Larcker criteria (1981), and the Heterotrait – Monotrait correlation index is denoted HTMT (Henseler et al., 2015) The result of the HTMT index is less than or equal to 0.85 (Henseler et al., 2015), and the Fornell-Larcker index is larger than the correlation between variables Then the discriminant value between variables is appropriate * Structure model evaluation - Multicollinearity The PLS Algorithm analysis results through the Collinearity Statistics criterion (VIF) is used According to Hair et al (2019), the VIF coefficient > causes multicollinearity among the latent variables, affecting the quality of the model results If multicollinearity occurs, it is necessary to overcome this phenomenon, such as removing highly correlated variables, adding or changing new data, changing the model, etc - Path coefficient and its significance To evaluate the impact relationships among the variables in the model using the results of Bootstrapping analysis Specifically, the Path Coefficients results are significant when the p-value < 0.05 (with 95% confidence) - R-squared coefficient R- squared coefficient is the level of explanation of the independent variable for the dependent variable, or in other words, the significance of the model When R > 50%, the model is considered significant That is, the independent factors explain more than 50% of the significance of the dependent variable - f-squared The coefficient f-squared indicates whether the influence of the independent variable on the dependent variable is strong or weak Cohen (1988) proposed a specific table of f Square (f ) indexes: If f < 0.02: the impact level is extremely low or nonexistent If 0.02 ≤ f < 0.15: low impact level If 0.15 ≤ f < 0.35: average impact level If f ≥ 0.35: high impact level CHAPTER 4: RESEARCH RESULTS AND DISCUSSION 4.1 Results from qualitative research In this section, the results are only mentioned after having expert opinions on the identification of variables, measurement expression, and scale of each variable in the proposed model 4.1.1 Research variable 17 4.1.1.1 New variable Within the scope of this study, the aim is to find out the relationship between cooperation activities and the application of SMA The concept of a cooperative network is understood as: the cooperation between enterprises and different objects (agencies, agencies, competitors, suppliers, customers, etc) in product development, product promotion, market information sharing, resource sharing, resource training, facilities investment, and many more 4.1.1.2 Inheritance variable According to previous research results, the inherited influencing factors include characteristics of the Board of Directors, the Management Board; participation in the strategic decision-making process of accountants; information quality of information systems; decentralization; Competition, business size, and strategy 4.1.2 Measure of observed variable Summary of the results of expert interviews about the measured expressions of the variables in the model: - SMA application: The author proposed to use 16 techniques of SMA of Cadez & Guilding (2008) with the addition of two others ABC and environmental management accounting - Collaborative Network: This content received 8/8 agreement of experts who gave reasons Firstly, these cooperative activities are the issues managers need to pay attention to make appropriate cooperation decisions Secondly, these activities are compatible with competitive activities, partly showing the two sides of the competition problem Moreover, in the current context, competition and cooperation will help businesses achieve long-term, sustainable business goals Thanks to the cooperation strategies between many different subjects, it is also a condition to create a competitive advantage for itself Synthesize the measurement scale Cooperation network TT Observed variables Cooperation in product and service development Cooperation in the promotion and promotion of services Cooperate in the provision, acquisition, and sharing of market and customer information Cooperation in investment in facilities, planning, and construction of tourism projects Cooperation in sharing resources, tourism resources Cooperation in training human resources Cooperate in other things: safety, insurance, funding, etc - Performance: 87.5% (7/8) experts disagree with this item: “Market price index/share earnings (PE)” They think that most tourism businesses are not all equitized, so it is not suitable for selected enterprises as a sample This content is excluded from the performance measurement Thus, performance is measured by nine expressions coded from PER1 to PER9 and a Likert from (Strongly disagree) to (Strongly agree ) - Business strategy: 8/8 experts agree that the group of business strategies that enterprises in general and tourism businesses are currently implementing is the competitive strategy group, according to Porter (1980) The expression used is a nominal scale, collecting the choice of units about the strategy the enterprise is implementing 18 - Expression of measuring the characteristics of the Board of Directors, the Management Board (3 observed variables); participation in the strategic decision-making process of accounting (5 observed variables); Competition (7 observed variables); capital size; management hierarchy (6 observed variables); The information quality of the information system (5 observed variables) all received the consensus of 8/8 experts according to the content proposed by the author in Section 3.2.1 Likert level is used to measure these observed variables 4.1.3 Result of the proposed model From the results of qualitative research, the thesis has synthesized groups of factors, proposed research hypotheses, and research models presented in chapter to continue the survey, collection, analysis, and evaluation of actual data verification results 4.2 Results from quantitative research 4.2.1 Data Data were collected from November 2019 to December 2020 There are 326 samples Sample characteristics were described by statistical tools processed in SPSS 22.0 and Excel 4.2.2 Describe the measurement of each variable The processing results show that the standard deviation values of each observed variable in the range of 0.826 to 1.083 are pretty high These values are in the safe zone, so the values are guaranteed for the next testing steps 4.2.3 General method variance test The results from SPSS 22.0 software show that the total variance extracted for all input variables = 41,448% < 50%, which means that the data does not occur CMB phenomenon, so the data is suitable for inclusion analysis for further tests 4.2.4 Testing the reliability and the convergence The test results are exported and aggregated, including the load coefficients, Cronbach’s Alpha, the combined reliability, and the extracted mean variance Firstly, the reliability assessment has intrinsic consistency The Cronbach’s Alpha index of each variable is more significant than 0.7 (Nunally & Bernstein, 1990; Hair et al., 2016), showing the observed variables of each variable has the same reliability Second, to evaluate the convergence of each research variable, the loading coefficient of each observed variable is more extensive than 0.7, and the average extracted variance (AVE) ranges from 0.639 to 0.823 Hence the scales of each variable in the model achieve convergent values 4.2.5 Discriminant validity The results show that the square root value of AVE ranges from 0.799 to 0.896 and is larger than the correlation coefficient between the factor itself and other factors Results from two Fornell – Larcker and Heterotrait-Monotrait Ratio (HTMT) showed that the discriminant value between the variables in the model is appropriate, ensuring the structural model testing steps 4.2.6 Test the proposed research model ... travel, transportation, entertainment, shopping, etc 1.3.2 About research methods The primary methodology uses the quantitative method, and only some studies apply qualitative and quantitative methods... information? 3.2.2.2 Selecting experts Hand-to-hand interviews were selected for implementation In selecting experts to interview, the criteria are the following: - Professionals in management accounting... Specifically, the Path Coefficients results are significant when the p-value < 0.05 (with 95% confidence) - R-squared coefficient R- squared coefficient is the level of explanation of the independent