Determinants Influencing Management Competency of Small and Medium Enterprise Directors in Vietnam

Currently, small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) are accounting for about 98% of the total number of enterprises in Vietnam. Each year, SMEs create over one million new jobs, utilize up to 51% of the labor force in the society, and contribute more than 40% of GDP to the country. The study aims to analyze factors affecting the management competency of directors in small and medium enterprises in Vietnam. To achieve these research objectives, quantitative and qualitative methods were used concurrently. 300 questionnaires were sent out, but only 276 were collected and used for the quantitative analysis through SPSS 20.0 software. Cronbach's Alpha, EFA, and regression were used to further confirm the research findings. The research findings show that all four proposed factors have impacts on the management competency of SME directors, among which enterprise features and specific policies for entrepreneur development in the locality have the strongest impacts, followed by personal features and business environment. The findings of this study suggest that managers need to focus on factors affecting the management competency of directors. This paper also provides new insight into the management competency of directors. Based on the findings, some recommendations are given for SMEs to improve management competency.