Fintech Adoption and Commercial Banks’ Environmental Performance: Do Green Accounting Practices Matter?

Ywana Maher Lamey Badrous (), Omar Ikbal Tawfik, Hamada Elsaid Elmaasrawy, Mohamed Ibrahim Srour and Mohammed Ahmed Ahmed Sharaf
Additional contact information
Ywana Maher Lamey Badrous: Department of Accounting, Faculty of Commerce, Tanta University, Gharbiya 31512, Egypt
Omar Ikbal Tawfik: Department of Accounting, College of Commerce & Business Administration, Dhofar University, Salalah 211, Oman
Hamada Elsaid Elmaasrawy: Department of Accounting, Faculty of Commerce, Tanta University, Gharbiya 31512, Egypt
Mohamed Ibrahim Srour: Department of Accounting, Faculty of Commerce, Tanta University, Gharbiya 31512, Egypt
Mohammed Ahmed Ahmed Sharaf: Department of Accounting, Faculty of Commerce, Tanta University, Gharbiya 31512, Egypt

IJFS, 2025, vol. 13, issue 2, 1-24

Abstract: From reviewing the literature, there was still a scarcity of research about direct and indirect relationships between fintech adoption (FA) and banks’ environmental performance (BEP), particularly in developing countries. Therefore, this is a pioneering study that empirically explored the impacts of FA on BEP in the Middle East (ME) region, considering the mediating role of green accounting practices (GAPs)—such as green banking practices (GBPs), green finance (GF), and circular economy practices (CEPs)—based on legitimacy and ecological modernization (EM) theories to address these research gaps. Based on a structured survey and convenience sampling technique, the primary data were obtained from a sample of 500 members of staff from banks in Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, Egypt, Oman, Iraq, and Jordan. The structural equation model (SEM) was utilized to investigate the relationships among this study’s variables. The findings indicated that FA positively and significantly impacts GBPs, GF, CEPs, and BEP, which answered the first research question. Furthermore, the linkage between FA and BEP is positively and significantly mediated by GBPs, GF, and CEPs; thus, the second research question was answered. The findings provide bank executives and policy makers with valuable understanding and suggestions to deploy more investments in eco-friendly practices to enhance the environmental performance (EP), societal legitimacy, and achieve competitive advantage. Additionally, collaboration among the banking institutions, governments, and international firms is essential to promote FA and GAPs and enhance the EP.

Keywords: fintech; green accounting practices; circular economy practices; green banking practice; green finance; environmental performance; structural equation model; legitimacy theory; ecological modernization theory (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: F2 F3 F41 F42 G1 G2 G3 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2025
References: Add references at CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.mdpi.com/2227-7072/13/2/90/pdf (application/pdf)
https://www.mdpi.com/2227-7072/13/2/90/ (text/html)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:gam:jijfss:v:13:y:2025:i:2:p:90-:d:1666041

Access Statistics for this article

IJFS is currently edited by Ms. Hannah Lu

More articles in IJFS from MDPI
Bibliographic data for series maintained by MDPI Indexing Manager ().