Environmental sustainability: perceptions, responses and interactions of the Vietnamese Millennials and Gen Z consumers and SME café businesses in Vietnam

Abstract

20 cyclones in 2025, extreme hot summer reaching 50 census degrees on road, Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City rank among top 10 most polluted cities worldwide, those are some of the critical issues that significantly impact human lives and Vietnamese economy due to deforestation, rapid urbanisation, unsustainable behaviours of individuals and firms. In 2025, the Vietnamese government released regulations to reduce single-use plastic and fossil-fuel motorbikes for the period 2025-2030.

After an extensive literature review, there are a lack of studies investigating the perceptions and responses of Vietnamese Millennials and Gen Z consumers despite their roles of being the national key workforce and shaping the domestic consumption trends. No studies have investigated sustainable practices in SME café businesses, although Vietnam has a deeply rooted coffee-drinking culture, with a significantly valued domestic coffee market and over 500,000 cafés nationwide.

This research addresses the literature gap by investigating the perceptions, responses, and interactions of Vietnamese Millennials and Gen Z consumers and SME café businesses in Vietnam towards environmental sustainability. This research supports UN SDG 8 (decent work and economic growth), SDG 12 (sustainable consumption and production) and SDG 17 (collaboration for sustainable goals).

With thirty-two semi-structured interviews, including nineteen young Vietnamese consumers and eight SME café businesses, this exploratory research adopts a qualitative method and thematic analysis using NVivo software for data analysis.

Results show the positive perceptions, responses and reciprocity interactions between of young consumers and service providers towards environmental sustainability in emerging markets, like Vietnam. Managerial insights of SMEs in the F&B sector and relevant governments are investigated, as well as consumers’ responses around undertaking sustainable business practices, products and services. The development of key propositions and a conceptual framework will support future research applicable to other emerging-market contexts or comparative research across different markets.

Date of Thesis submission	2026
Original language	English
Awarding Institution	Western Sydney University
Supervisor	Laurel Jackson (Supervisor) & Hugh Pattinson (Supervisor)