MDF Theses and Dissertations

Permanent URI for this community

http://hdl.handle.net/11071/12018

Browse

Browsing MDF Theses and Dissertations by Author "Lengewa, S. J."

Now showing 1 - 1 of 1
  • Thumbnail Image
    Item
    Analysis of environmental, social and governance integration and sustainable lending practices by commercial banks in Kenya
    (Strathmore University, 2024) Lengewa, S. J.
    The global call for sustainable development has prompted businesses and financial institutions to adopt responsible practices that balance economic growth with environmental and social concerns. In Kenya, a rapidly developing nation facing significant environmental and social challenges, the role of commercial banks in promoting sustainability has gained increasing importance. Despite its proven benefits in other parts of the globe, commercial banks in Kenya are yet to fully integrate ESG in their lending practice, begging the question why? This study sought to determine the effect of environmental integration, social integration, and governance integration on sustainable lending practices of commercial banks in Kenya. The research methodology anchored on the positivist research philosophy and employed a descriptive research design where the study used questionnaires to collect data from employees from sustainability and credit departments of the 39 commercial banks that operate in Kenya. The stakeholder theory, legitimacy theory and stewardship theory guided the study and informed the research objectives, variables, and conceptual framework. Using ordinal regression analysis, the study regressed the predictors on the outcome variable. It was established that environmental integration, social integration and governance integration had a positive significant effect on the sustainable lending practices of commercial banks in Kenya. The study concludes that there exists a significant positive relationship between environmental, social and governance integration (ESG) and sustainability lending practices of commercial banks in Kenya. It is recommended that policy makers should proactively formulate robust policies mandating commercial banks to fully integrate ESG principles into their lending practices to promote sustainability. And that bank management should enhance their ESG disclosure procedures by incorporating critical and relevant ESG components that directly impact stakeholders‘ interests and overall bank operations. Keywords: Environmental integration, Social integration, Governance integration, commercial Banks and sustainable lending practices