Ethical values and employee fraud in Ghanaian banking sector during COVID-19

We examined the types and motives of employee fraud and ethical values in Ghana during COVID-19 by employing the fraud diamond and pentagon fraud theories for the analysis. We collected data from 108 employees across 23 banks using questionnaires and analysed them using descriptive statistics and structural equation model (SEM). The findings reveal financial report fraud as the main fraud type, with opportunity and rationalisation as primary motives. The study also finds that strong ethical values in employees reduce the likelihood of fraud, even when presented with opportunities and under pressure, emphasising a vital link between ethics and employee fraud. The authors found no relationship between employee fraud and pressure during COVID-19.

PurposeThis paper aims to examine whether individual factors (religiosity and ethical values) and organizational factors (ethical leadership and whistleblowing practices) contribute to employee fraud mitigation.Design/methodology/approachGuided by Corporate Integrity System Malaysia, this study developed and collected 101-questionnaire survey from Royal Custom officers.FindingsThe findings revealed that individual factors (religiosity and ethical values) significantly contribute to fraud reduction, and organizational factors (both ethical leadership and whistle blowing practices) do not significantly contribute to employee fraud mitigation.Originality/valueThis study serves as a useful guide to alert and educate employers, professionals, law enforcement officers and policymakers of the importance of individual and organizational factors in mitigating employee fraud. There is very little empirical research conducted on employee fraud in Malaysia. This research helps bring that to light.

The occurrence of an economic crisis and the company's operating conditions that are different from usual during the pandemic can result in the emergence of loopholes in committing fraud. This study aims to investigate the relationship between ethical values and the fraud diamond, namely, pressure, opportunity, rationalization, and capability against bank employee fraud during the pandemic. Thus, this research is expected to make a theoretical contribution to the development of fraud theory and a practical contribution to policymakers in preventing fraud in the banking industry. The methods research is a quantitative study with primary data sourced directly from online survey responses. The respondents of this research are followed by 133 bank employees in Indonesia. Based on the Rank Spearman Correlation test, the factors that significantly influence bank employee fraud during the pandemic are ethical values, opportunity, rationalization, and capability. Pressure has no significant effect on bank employee fraud. Furthermore, rationalization has a significant relationship with all variables tested, especially on capabilities, ethical values, and employee fraud. These results suggest that the banking industry anticipates wrong rationalizations from employees regarding fraudulent acts. Instilling ethical values is believed to be able to direct the right rationalization so that employees do not take advantage of their abilities to commit fraud in the workplace.

Information systems (IS) have become an integral part of many organizations as they depend on it to execute their critical business function. The purpose of this research was to explore the enablers and inhibitors of information systems disaster recovery planning in organizations in the Ghanaian banking sector. In order to achieve this purpose, the protection motivation theory and the theory of planned behavior was used as the theoretical lens for this study. Eight hypotheses were developed to test the research conceptualization. Data analysis was performed using SPSS version 20.0. Using a survey of 207 managers in the Ghanaian banking sector, this article shows the factors such as perceived vulnerability, perceived severity, response efficacy, self-efficacy, attitude, subjective norms and perceived behavioral control positively influences motivation and intention to develop an information systems disaster recovery plan in Ghanaian banking industries.

The importance of human resource for the success and growth of every organisation, including banks in developing economies, cannot be underestimated. The banking sector in Ghana, a developing economy, has recently faced some significant performance-related difficulties, such as suspending the licences of new banks, raising the minimum capital required, and recording fraud cases. These developments in the banking sector seriously questioned the managerial competencies of bank managers providing leadership roles to these banks in Ghana. It was for this purpose that this study examined the influence of managerial competence on the performance of branch and operational managers in the Ghanaian banking sector. The study sought to achieve, among other things, to explore how managerial competencies such as customer value management, interpersonal, leadership and intrapersonal relate to managerial performance in the banking sector of Ghana. The study adopted the quantitative approach from the positivist philosophical perspective and, specifically, the cross-sectional survey method. A sample of 127 branch and operation managers from the sixteen administrative regions of Ghana was drawn for the study. Data were collected with an adopted questionnaire and analysed with partial least square structural equation modelling. The study found a significant relationship between customer value management, interpersonal, leadership, intrapersonal, technical competencies and managerial performance in the banking sector. The relative importance of each of the five managerial competencies found was customer value management competence, interpersonal competence, leadership competence, intrapersonal competence and technical competence. The study concluded that managerial competence relates to managerial performance in the banking sector in Ghana. The implications of the findings of this study are that human resource managers in the banking sector should pay attention to these managerial competencies in hiring and developing managers for their branch and operational managerial positions in developing economies.

This study aims to examine the effect of pressure, opportunity, rationalization, and ethical values on employee fraud intentions in BUMN in Indonesia. This type of research is classified as survey research with a quantitative approach. The population in this study were employees of BUMN in Indonesia. The research sample was determined by purposive sampling method in order to obtain a sample of 65 employees in BUMN. The type of data used is primary data obtained from questionnaires. Data analysis using multiple regression, employee fraud intention as the dependent variable and pressure, opportunity, rationalization and ethical values as independent variables. The result of this study indicate that: (1) pressure has no positive significant effect on employee fraud intention, so hypothesis 1 is rejected, (2) opportunity has a significant positive effect on employee fraud intention, sho hypothesis 2 is accepted, (3) rationalization has a significant positive effect on employee fraud intention employee fraud, so hypothesis 3 is accepted, (4) ethical values do not have a significant negative effect on employee fraud intentions, so hypothesis 4 is rejected. So, it can be concluded that opportunity and rationalization have a significant influence on employee fraud intentions in BUMN.

The study explored the effect of credit risk management and its relationship to financial performance in the Ghanaian banking sector. This study adopted the explanatory research design. In this study, census sampling was used to select four (4) banks. These banks were Access Bank, Agricultural Development Bank, Ghana Commercial Bank, and Republic Bank. Data for the study constituted secondary data which were obtained from published audited annual report of the banks and the Ghana Banking Survey. The study adopted the regression analysis. The results indicated that credit risk has a negative relationship with performance in the banking sector. Specifically, credit risk related negatively with capital adequacy ratio, asset quality, management quality, earnings and profitability and liquidity. The concept is that increase in credit risk means bad credit risk management and vice versa. The implication therefore is that an increase in credit risk management give rise to increase in financial performance. The study recommended that training programmes be organized for credit officers on effective client monitoring. For the customers, there is the need to design and implement adequate credit management programmes to educate clients on proper management of loans. The policy and procedures should be living documents that reflect current and emerging credit practices. Keywords: Credit Risk Management, Financial Performance, Ghanaian Banking Sector. DOI: 10.7176/RJFA/11-12-08 Publication date: June 30th 2020

Asia Pacific is the region with the highest number of losses in the world. While Indonesia ranks fourth in the number of frauds, it has the highest increase in frauds based on the CPI index. This study aims to examine employee fraud triggered by the six components of the fraud hexagon. This study tries to develop the hexagon fraud element by adding power distance elements and using ethical values as a moderating variable. This study conducted a survey of 351 respondents. Using a purposive sampling method, the heads of funds, heads of credit, heads of treasurers and heads of accountants were selected as respondents in 128 rural banks in Bali. PLS displays an adjusted R2 value of 0.331. Not all elements of the fraud hexagon are proven to influence fraud. Only pressure, opportunity, rationalization, and ego affect employees in committing fraud. Meanwhile, power distance as an additional element of the fraud hexagon can increase fraud. Ethical values can become an anti-fraud strategy in reducing employee pressure and ego in committing fraud. The results of this study will provide input for rural bank managers to anticipate factors that increase employee fraud and increase the role of ethical values in suppressing employees’ desire to commit fraud.

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to understand the moderating role of organizational culture in the relationship between service quality, customer satisfaction and loyalty in the banking sector using data from the Ghanaian banking sector. The idea is to understand the relative importance of the various service dimensions to customers patronizing banking services in Ghana and to ascertain what drives customer satisfaction and whether this satisfaction has implication on their loyalty.Design/methodology/approachThe study used a survey and relied on partial least squares structural equation modeling to study the relationship between service quality and its impact on customer satisfaction and customer loyalty.FindingsThe result indicates that the reliability, ambiance and social factors all have a significant positive relationship with the satisfaction of customers doing business with these banks. However, assurance and responsiveness of the employees seem to have no significant relationship with the satisfaction of customers. It is also important to indicate that organizational culture seems to strengthen the positive relationship between the service quality dimensions and customer satisfaction. The results further indicate that customer satisfaction has a direct positive relationship with customer loyalty.Research limitations/implicationsReliability, ambiance and social factors remain the three most important drivers of customer satisfaction in the banking sector in Ghana. It is, therefore, important for bankers to consistently undergo training and education in order to deliver more reliable services to customers. Managers should also make efforts to groom employees, provide attractive promotion materials, provide directions to the banks, make sure the banking halls are neat for customers while waiting and the provision of enough parking spaces for customers. One limitation of this work is that the data focused on only the Ghanaian banking environment.Practical implicationsThe research shows the importance of the service quality constructs such as reliability, ambiance and the social factors on customer satisfaction and loyalty in the banking sector. The organizational culture seems to strengthen the positive relationship between empathy, reliability, tangibles and customer satisfaction. It is therefore important for banks to continue to build cultures that will commit employees to their work, so that they feel the sense of ownership of quality in order to contribute meaningfully.Originality/valueThe work illustrates and provides some insights and builds on the literature in the area of service quality, customer satisfaction and loyalty from a developing country’s environment using the stimulus-organism-response model. In addition, this work further highlights the importance of the moderating role of organizational culture in the relationship between the service quality dimensions and customer satisfaction.

This paper examines the relationship between tax planning activity dynamics and solvency constraints within the Ghanaian banking sector. This is conceived on the premise that banks are likely to change their tax planning dynamics in the midst of solvency challenges to boost their after-tax capital position to minimize the exposure to the going concern problem. The study employs the quantile regression estimation to draw time-varying constraint scenarios to measure solvency constraint proxies: WW index, HP index, and Z-score. Tax planning activity is also measured through cash effective tax rate. Annual data from 2008 to 2022 are used for the investigation with the unit of analysis expanding to cover all licensed banks which have been in operation within the study span. The study employed a quantile estimation approach to conduct the analysis. It is observed that the nature and trend in tax aggressiveness of the banks under a solvency-constraint scenario is dependent on the measurement of the constraints. Nevertheless, the study found non-linearity in the solvency-constraint and tax planning nexus. The banks do not generally alter their tax planning behaviour at the initial stage of the constrained scenario, however, turn to be relatively aggressive when the solvency constraint amplifies. The government is advised to protect the banks not to fall into any solvency constraint situation since that could change their tax planning activities.

PurposeThe current happenings in the Ghana banking space and anecdotal evidence suggest that employees face psychosocial issues which impact their levels of work engagement. An intervention to manage these psychosocial hazards and promote work engagement among the employees is necessary. In effect, the study has proposed the promotion of a positive psychosocial safety climate (PSC) therein. Therefore, the purpose of this paper is to examine the moderating effect of PSC on the relationship between psychosocial hazards (i.e. work stress, workplace violence and workplace bullying) and work engagement.Design/methodology/approachThe study gathered quantitative data from six commercial banks. Miller and Brewer’s (2003) sample determination formula was used to calculate the sample. The stratified random sampling technique was used to select the respondents. Questionnaires were used for the data collection, and Structural Equation Modelling was used to analyze the data from 543 usable responses.FindingsWorkplace bullying negatively predicted work engagement, whereas work stress and workplace violence had no significant effect on work engagement. PSC had a significant positive effect on work engagement. Furthermore, PSC only moderated the workplace bullying–work engagement relationship.Originality/valueBased on the findings, PSC can be a national and organizational intervention promoted to create a positive psychological work environment devoid of such psychosocial hazards in the Ghanaian banking sector. Also, this will foster work engagement among the employees which will culminate into increased productivity.

The Ghanaian banking industry has experienced a heightened level of competition in recent times due to the recent banking sector clean-up by the Bank of Ghana (BOG) which has resulted in a number of mergers, acquisitions and bank closures. As a result of this development, banks in Ghana have adopted relationship marketing (RM) as a strategy to attract new customers and for customer retention purposes. This research seeks to investigate the impact of relationship marketing (RM) on customer retention in the Ghanaian banking industry. It also examined the impact of relationship marketing (RM) on customer satisfaction as well as the impact of customer satisfaction on customer retention in the Ghanaian banking industry. A survey of customers from twenty banks was conducted using a questionnaire. The results revealed that relationship marketing account for a significant variation in the extent of customer retention in the Ghanaian banking industry. The study further revealed that customer satisfaction also accounts for the level of customer retention in the Ghanaian banking sector. The study also discovered that banks in Ghana are able to retain their customers even without employing non-financial benefits, which is considered as very essential in the implementation of RM practices. This indicates that banks in Ghana which employ non-financial benefits in addition to financial benefits could have a competitive urge over other competitors in the Ghanaian banking industry. As a consequence, there is a call on Ghanaian banks to implement effective relationship marketing strategies in order to ensure the retention of their customers. Furthermore, banks should employ strategies that will ensure that their customers are satisfied in order to guarantee higher level of retention of their customers Keywords: Relationship Marketing, Customer Retention, Banking, Ghana. DOI: 10.7176/EJBM/12-29-01 Publication date: October 31 st 2020

Orientation: With banks faced with fulfilling the increasing demands of diverse stakeholders, this study sought to explore the views and motives for corporate social responsibility practices in the Ghanaian banking sector and also to investigate any possible relationship between these practices and financial performance.Research purpose: This article examined the impact of corporate social responsibility on financial performance using empirical evidence from the Ghanaian banking sector.Motivation for the study: Although corporate social responsibility is a hot topic in Ghana and banks do practise it, no detailed study has been conducted to ascertain whether banks derive any benefits therefrom.Research design, approach and method: A sample size of 22 banks was involved. A structured questionnaire was used to obtain primary data whilst archival records were used to gather the secondary data.Main findings: The findings revealed that banks in Ghana view corporate social responsibility practices to be a strategic tool; banks are motivated to practise corporate social responsibility by legitimate reasons as much as they are motivated by profitability and sustainability reasons. Also, although there is a positive relationship between corporate social responsibility practices and financial performance, the financial performance of banks in Ghana does not depend significantly on their corporate social responsibility practices but rather on other control variables, such as growth, origin, debt ratio, and size.Practical implications: Properly adopted and implemented, corporate social responsibility can pay its way by contributing toward firm performance.Contribution: There is a positive but currently insignificant relationship between corporate social responsibility and financial performance amongst Ghanaian banks. However, given the numerous benefits of corporate social responsibility, it is recommended that firms continue to give priority to this practice.

Digital banking has existed within the Ghanaian banking sector over the years and has evolved to incorporate more technological developments and are playing a more significant role in the development of the Ghanaian economy. The banking sector has been pursuing various policies to ensure that more customers adopt digital banking for their transactions. Despite the rapid rollout of numerous banking services in the country, adoption of digital banking has been generally slow. This present study seeks to examine the influence of trust on the adoption of digital banking services. The aim of the study was specifically to examine the influence of knowledge based trust on digital banking service adoption, to examine the influence of institution based trust on digital banking service adoption and to examine the influence of propensity to trust on digital banking service adoption. The positivism paradigm was the philosophical framework that guided the study and a quantitative approach. Data was obtained through the use of a survey and was analysed using simple linear regression. The population of the study consisted of customers of various banks within the Accra sub-metro. Using convenient sampling technique, 150 participant took part in the study. From the analysis of the data, the results showed propensity to trust had a positive relationship with adoption of digital banking platforms. Institution based trust had no significant relationship to adoption of digital banking platforms. Knowledge based trust had a positive relationship with adoption of digital banking platforms. The findings of the study can be applied to improve upon the adoption and use of digital banking platforms by banks. Particularly, banks can focus on providing quality banking experiences across its digital channels and physical banking channels. In addition, digital banking service providers need to highlight improving on their level of integrity, competence and benevolence in order to facilitate users’ adoption and usage of mobile banking.

From risk to reward: Unveiling the multidimensional impact of financial risks on the performance of Ghanaian banks