2023, Vol. 6, Issue 2

In recent years, interest in social responsibility has gradually increased, especially concerns about risks from foreign investment and the negative effects of industrial development on the environment and social issues. The globalization process promotes social responsibility in developing countries and the need for cooperation to solve social and environmental problems. Small and medium-sized enterprises play an important role in the economy, but do not pay enough attention to CSR, so research is needed to propose policies to support increasing their operational efficiency through CSR. CSR brings competitive advantages to businesses and is of interest to large enterprises. Although social and environmental issues are increasingly complex, CSR plays an important role in solving them. At the same time, it is necessary to pay attention to SMEs and encourage them to apply CSR to contribute to sustainable development. The goal of the article is to evaluate the influence of corporate social responsibility CSR on organizational effectiveness through the mediating component of organizational engagement and creative behavior at work, specially, research on SMEs in Ho Chi Minh City. From there, the author has a basis to propose management implications for SMEs in Ho Chi Minh City in promoting organizational engagement and creative behavior at work to improve the organizational effectiveness of businesses. The author conducted a survey of 331 subjects of SME owners, CEOs/administrators, financial directors/chief accountants as well as sales department heads in Ho Chi Minh City. Quantitative analysis results with Cronbach's Alpha coefficient analysis technique, EFA exploratory factor analysis, and Structural equation modeling SEM determine the influence of CSR on organizational effectiveness through the mediating component of organizational engagement and creative behavior at work in the case of SMEs in Ho Chi Minh City.