Corporate social responsibility, ethics, and corporate governance

Purpose This inquiry into companies listed on the Ho Chi Minh City Stock Exchange (HOSE) in Vietnam seeks to discern whether such constructs as corporate social responsibility (CSR) and ethics act as antecedents for corporate governance. Design/methodology/approach Three hundred and seventeen responses returned from self‐administered structured questionnaires relayed to 1,173 middle level managers were analyzed via ANOVAs and structural equation modeling (SEM). Findings From the results an interplay emerged between the ethics of justice and legal CSR/economic CSR. The ethics of care, on the other hand, tend to cultivate ethical CSR, which in turn positively influences corporate governance. Originality/value From the results of the research, insight into the linkage pattern of corporate governance and its antecedents highlights the magnitude of the ethics training program as well as CSR initiatives in reinforcing corporate governance in listed companies in Vietnam.