| Abstract | Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) integration has become an increasingly prominent consideration in private equity investment, particularly in emerging markets where regulatory frameworks, institutional capacity, and market practices remain uneven. In Vietnam, while ESG-related commitments are gaining visibility, empirical research examining how ESG integration is operationalized in practice within the private equity ecosystem remains limited. This study explores how ESG considerations are understood, implemented, and shaped within Vietnam’s private equity sector, with particular attention to stakeholder roles and governance dynamics.The study employs a qualitative research design comprising semi-structured interviews with 14 anonymized stakeholders, including Limited Partners, General Partners, and portfolio company representatives. Interview data were analyzed using an inductive thematic analysis approach to examine how ESG practices are translated across different stages of the investment cycle and to identify institutional, organizational, and contextual factors influencing implementation. Rather than assessing ESG performance or impact outcomes, the analysis focuses on the processes, governance arrangements, and capacity constraints that shape ESG integration in practice.The findings indicate that ESG integration in Vietnam’s private equity sector is predominantly governance-driven and framed as a risk management and compliance oriented function. Limited Partners play a central role in defining ESG expectations, which General Partners subsequently mediate through fund-level systems and post investment engagement. At the portfolio company level, ESG implementation is typically incremental and constrained by limited resources, technical capacity, and evolving regulatory environments. The study further demonstrates that ESG integration operates as a negotiated, learning-based process, shaped by stakeholder interactions rather than uniform or fully standardized practices.This study contributes to the responsible investment literature by providing a process oriented, context-sensitive analysis of ESG integration in an emerging-market private equity setting. By foregrounding governance dynamics, stakeholder asymmetries, and institutional constraints, the study offers a nuanced understanding of how global ESG principles are adapted and operationalized in practice beyond developed market contexts. |
