Exploratory analysis of legal risk causes in tourism real estate projects in emerging economies: empirical study from Vietnam

Tourism real estate (TRE) projects have recently attracted authorities and investors because of the increasing travel demand. However, implementing TRE projects still poses many potential risks, especially legal risks, due to their distinctive and complex characteristics. This study is among the first attempts to investigate legal risks in TRE projects and the relationship between participants’ characteristics and legal risk assessment. Accordingly, a comprehensive literature review was performed to identify potential risk factors possibly causing legal problems in TRE projects. Qualitative interviews were undertaken to validate this list and explore the current TRE status in Vietnam. A questionnaire survey was conducted to assess legal risks quantitatively. This study provided useful information of legal risks and corresponding assessments to practitioners. Especially, this study also revealed that participants’ industry experience and legal problem knowledge positively affected legal risk cause assessment. Interestingly, although participants’ roles influenced legal risk assessment, there was no moderating effect of project roles on the relationships of industry experience and legal problem knowledge with risk assessment. This study contributed to the extant literature by conducting empirical research to investigate legal risks in TRE projects. This could provide practitioners with more insights into legal risk management, thereby supporting TRE project development.