Linking Intelligent Green Accounting System with Sustainable Green Practices in Driving the Sustainability Performance of Small and Medium Enterprises: Empirical Evidence from an Emerging Country Perspective

On account of the growing awareness of consumers on environmentally friendly offerings, all small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) have faced burgeoning pressure to become more “greener” for sustainable development. With respect to this, a new environmental dimension of accounting has emerged. Although the notion of intelligent green accounting system (IGAS) has been flourishingly gaining traction among academicians and practitioners, its linkages with sustainable green practices (SGP) and sustainability performance (SP) remain under-explored. The current research sets its sight on dissecting how IGAS boosts SMEs’ SP. Besides, it also delves into and throws further light on the mediating role of SGP. The statistical data set pooled from a cross-sectional survey questionnaire disseminated to a convenience and snowball sample of 783 indigenous Vietnamese SMEs was mathematically examined through structural equation modeling to derive meaningful outcomes for path analysis. The statistical outcomes substantiated that IGAS was positively and significantly associated with SGP—simultaneously, SP was markedly intensified by IGAS and SGP. Strikingly, the nexus between IGAS and SP was proliferated with the implementation of SGP. Beyond paving paths for further studies appertaining to this theme, the intriguing findings of this research provided insights to practitioners to undertake appropriate interventions to sense and seize future growth opportunities for their enterprises. The value of more fine-grained insights of this study would offer insights and guidelines that could enable policymakers to revise current accounting rules for SGP in line with sustainable development goals.