International Journal of

ADVANCED AND APPLIED SCIENCES

EISSN: 2313-3724, Print ISSN: 2313-626X

Frequency: 12

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 Volume 13, Issue 2 (February 2026), Pages: 38-48

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 Original Research Paper

Driving sustainable business performance: The roles of circular economy policy, stakeholder pressure, and green culture

 Author(s): 

 Le Thi Nuong, Nguyen Thi Thanh Hai *

 Affiliation(s):

  Faculty of Economics and Business Administration, Hong Duc University, Thanh Hoa Province, Vietnam

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 * Corresponding Author. 

   Corresponding author's ORCID profile:  https://orcid.org/0009-0004-1594-1003

 Digital Object Identifier (DOI)

  https://doi.org/10.21833/ijaas.2026.02.005

 Abstract

The aim of this study is to examine how circular economy policy (CEP) and stakeholder pressure (SP) influence sustainable business performance (SBP), with green business innovation (GBI) and top management commitment (TMC) acting as mediators and green culture (GC) as a moderator. Drawing on the Resource-Based View, Institutional Theory, and the Attention-Based View, the study proposes and tests an integrated research framework using survey data from 468 firms in Vietnam, an emerging economy facing increasing environmental and regulatory pressures. Partial least squares structural equation modeling (PLS-SEM) was used to analyze the data. The findings show that CEP and SP both have positive effects on GBI and TMC, indicating that regulatory and stakeholder forces jointly encourage sustainability-related strategies. GBI also positively influences TMC, suggesting that engagement in green innovation strengthens managers’ commitment over time. TMC has the strongest direct effect on SBP and plays a key role in linking external pressures and innovation activities to sustainable performance outcomes. In addition, green culture strengthens the effects of CEP and SP on GBI but does not significantly moderate their effects on TMC, implying that top management commitment is more responsive to external pressures than to organizational culture. Overall, the study contributes to the sustainability management literature and provides practical implications for policymakers and managers seeking to enhance long-term sustainable business performance.

 © 2026 The Authors. Published by IASE.

 This is an open access article under the CC BY-NC-ND license ( https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/).

 Keywords

 Circular economy policy, Stakeholder pressure, Green business innovation, Top management commitment, Sustainable business performance

 Article history

 Received 12 September 2025, Received in revised form 16 January 2026, Accepted 29 January 2026

 Acknowledgment

No Acknowledgment. 

 Compliance with ethical standards

 Ethical considerations

The study adhered to ethical guidelines for research involving human participants. All participants were informed about the purpose of the study and provided their voluntary consent before participating. No personally identifiable information was collected, and data was anonymized to ensure confidentiality. The research protocol was reviewed and deemed exempt from formal ethics committee approval due to the non-invasive nature of the survey and the anonymity of responses.

 Conflict of interest: The author(s) declared no potential conflicts of interest with respect to the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article.

 Citation:

 Nuong LT and Hai NTT (2026). Driving sustainable business performance: The roles of circular economy policy, stakeholder pressure, and green culture. International Journal of Advanced and Applied Sciences, 13(2): 38-48

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 Figures

  Fig. 1  Fig. 2 

 Tables

  Table 1  Table 2  Table 3  Table 4 

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