Pathways towards Green Banking adoption: moderating role of top management commitment

Purpose - The purpose of this study is to empirically examine the determinants and outcomes of Green Banking adoption and the moderating influence of top management commitment under the corporate environmental ethics ideology. External stakeholder pressures are analyzed as determinants of Green Banking adoption. Brand image and operational efficiency are examined as outcomes of this business ideology. Green Banking adoption is adapted as a second-order construct with four first-order reflective constructs to ensure in-depth conceptualization of the construct. Design/methodology/approach - Green Banking adoption is studied at the bank branch level in a developing country, i.e. Pakistan. The data is collected from the branch managers of 212 bank branches from five major cities of Pakistan through mails. Self-administered survey was used for the data collection. The data was analyzed through the application of partial least square-structured equation modeling in SMART PLS 3.2.9. The measurement model and the structural model of the research framework were analyzed through the two-stage approach of the second-order analysis. Findings - The results indicate a positive relationship between customer and competitor pressure and Green Banking adoption among bank branches in Pakistan depicting an influence of various environmental ethical pressures on bank's adoption practices. Community pressure was shown to have no significant influence on Green Banking adoption at the branch level. The moderator of top management commitment caused a positive influence on the relationship between all the studied stakeholder pressures and Green Banking adoption. Branch managers reported branch image and operational efficiency to be enhanced due to Green Banking adoption. Originality/value - This study attempts to fill in the significant gap in Green Banking adoption literature through an empirical analysis of Green Banking's second-order construct. Currently, limited literature exists on the various aspects of Green Banking adoption, and an empirical study has not been conducted at the bank branch level. The study contributes significant practical, theoretical and methodological contributions to the area of Green Banking.