Purpose – Integrating sustainability into the banking activity, i.e. taking a broader view of how actions affect future generations, stakeholders and the environment, is an increasingly necessary but extremely challenging issue currently facing financial institutions. It is thus becoming ever more important to understand the key determinants of sustainable banking and how they inter-relate with each other. As such, our aim in this research is to build a cognitive map, in particular a fuzzy cognitive map (FCM), to model, dynamically analyze and test the reciprocal influence of key factors underlying sustainable banking.
Design/methodology/approach – We propose an approach which explores the applicability of FCMs in the context of sustainable banking. FCMs have been shown to be of particular use in the handling of complex decision problems characterized by lack of information or unavailable data. They constitute a methodological framework that should allow for a reduction of omitted determinants with regard to sustainable banking, as well as a greater understanding of the relationships between them.
Originality/value – This methodology puts in evidence the value of applying FCMs to the structuring of the process of sustainable banking. We know of no previous work which has done this; and believe this first effort in the application of cognitive mapping techniques to the identification of the key determinants of sustainable banking will be an important contribution to both theory and practice.
Practical implications – The outcomes of the application of FCMs to sustainable banking can be expected to contribute to the literature, not only in what refers to sustainability strategies in the banking sector, strategic knowledge asset management and operational research, but also at a methodological level. As neuro-fuzzy systems, FCMs are able to incorporate experts’ knowledge, holding powerful and far-reaching potential to analyze and model complex decision problems, such as those considered in this paper. We anticipate implications and practical applications for both bank managers and policymakers aiming to increase the efficiency of their decision making in the context of sustainable banking.
Keywords – Sustainable Banking, Problem Structuring Methods, Fuzzy Cognitive Maps, Knowledge Management, Expert Systems