In the journey of achieving sustainable banking practices: the contributors and outcomes

Purpose In the light of rising environmental concerns, this study aims to examine the drivers of sustainable banking practices (SBNP) and the resulting outcomes. It evaluates theory of planned behavior (TPB) constructs as drivers of SBNP and triple bottom line (TBL) indicators as the resulting performance outcomes. Design/methodology/approach Data was collected using a Likert-scale questionnaire. Using purposive sampling, the authors collected 310 usable responses from banking professionals in commercial banks across Karachi, Pakistan. Partial Least Squares Structural Equation Modelling (PLS-SEM) was used to test research hypotheses. Findings The results demonstrate that TPB constructs – attitude toward sustainable banking, subjective norms and perceived behavioral control – favorably drive SBNP. Consequently, SBNP positively impacts environmental, social and financial performance. SBNP exerts the strongest substantive impact on environmental performance, while its practical influence on social and financial outcomes is more modest. Practical implications These findings offer practical insights for policymakers and bank executives, emphasizing that internal sustainability strategies must be contextually tailored to achieve multidimensional performance targets. Originality/value This research study applies TPB constructs to examine internal SBNP adoption and comprehensively assesses all TBL indicators, introducing social performance as an important outcome which was previously overlooked.