Trustworthiness, good governance and risk taking in MENA countries

Abstract

This study investigates the role of trustworthiness and governance quality in banks’ risk-taking behavior, along with other bank-specific and country-specific variables commonly studied. By employing a dataset comprising 202 banks in 16 countries in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) from 2011 to 2017 and a two-step generalized method of moments methodology, trustworthiness was tested directly in relation to risk-taking and indirectly through the quality of the channel of governance. Our results indicate that trustworthiness reduces risk-taking, whereas governance quality exacerbates the risk-taking behavior of MENA banks. However, the effect of trustworthiness on risk-taking changes with good governance, indicating the substitution effect of trust on risk-taking because of the existence of weak formal institutions in MENA countries. The study recommends significant policies that can be implemented to promote public trust and bank stability.