The impact of green financing on corporate sustainability: The moderating role of management commitment

Introduction: In today's competitive environment, commercial organizations try to increase their environmental balance with various activities with the aim of increasing value for their organization (Mijes, 2017). Therefore, banks now invest their diverse resources to compete through green financing, which allows them to achieve sustainable growth and performance (Pacheco et al., 2022). Hence, the banks plan to adopt and apply green financial concepts at the policy level and their business activities, expect sustainable growth and performance (Sharma et al., 2021). However, banks have not realized how much their green financing is worth to their company's sustainability. This caused green financing to be presented as a new policy at the level of banking policies and business activities (Zhang et al., 2022). Based on this, green financing can not only be considered as improving the sustainability of the company, but also helps to solve the basic problems of environmentally friendly companies. Researches have shown that green financing ensures the improvement of the efficiency of the allocation of financial resources, as well as the effective guidance for the flow of funds from energy-intensive to green and environmentally friendly industries (Magnum et al., 2022). Green financing in business activities and corporate activities improves the sustainability of the company. Investigating the impact of green financing on the sustainability of Iran Post Bank can help to identify and promote the role of this bank in achieving sustainable development goals. This will not only improve Post Bank's financial and environmental performance, but can also provide a successful model for other financial institutions in the country. Therefore, considering the importance of this issue, especially in the field of banking industry, as one of the important pillars of financing companies, on the one hand, and on the other hand, considering the one-sidedness of green financing and not considering other variables in the direction of financing Green financing of companies in internal researches, the purpose of this research is to investigate green financing on the sustainability of companies with the moderating role of management commitment in Post Bank of Yazd province. In the sense that the current research aims to convince the management of banks to attract more customers through the development and financing of sustainable products that are compatible with the environment by examining the effect of green financing and the commitment of management on sustainability in a sample of banks. It also has the aspect of innovation.

Methodology: The current research is one of the types of research used with a quantitative approach and is included in the category of descriptive-correlational research. This research was conducted using the structural equation modeling research method and based on a standard questionnaire, and a variety of statistical indicators such as frequency, frequency percentage, tables and graphs were used to describe the collected data. Also, in the inferential statistics section, in order to answer the questions and check the research hypotheses, structural equation analysis and partial least squares (PLS) path analysis were used. The statistical population of the current study includes 290 managers and senior experts of Post Bank in Yazd province, the sample size was determined as 165 people based on Morgan's table, and sampling was done using simple random sampling. The data collection in this research is based on theoretical foundations based on library studies and in the field part based on the standard 23-item questionnaire of Daniel, it was based on the Likert scale.

Findings: The analysis of the results from testing the first hypothesis regarding the positive and significant impact of green financing from the postal bank of Yazd province on the sustainability of companies in their financial operations indicates that, considering the standardized path coefficient of (0.318) and the t-statistic value of (5.283), which falls outside the range of (±1.96), it can be concluded that green financing has a significant impact on the sustainability of companies. Furthermore, the examination of the results from testing the second hypothesis regarding the moderating effect of management commitment on the relationship between green financing and the sustainability of companies shows that, based on the standardized path coefficient of (0.537) and the t-statistic value of (4.649), which also falls outside the range of (±1.96), it can be concluded that the impact of green financing on the sustainability of companies is positive and significant when moderated by management commitment.

Discussion and conclusion: The analysis of the results from testing the first hypothesis indicates that green financing has a significant impact on the sustainability of companies. Specifically, as green financing improves, the sustainability of the company also improves, and conversely, a decline in green financing weakens the company’s sustainability. This finding is consistent with the results of studies by Daniel et al. (2023), Dezmonda et al. (2022), and Rouhani Rad (2022). Therefore, the conclusion drawn is that green financing can be effective in reducing hazardous gases and waste in the environment, and that sustainability in companies, while reducing environmental risks, leads to an increase in brand reputation and improvement in the financial performance of companies. The analysis of the results from testing the second hypothesis indicates that management commitment plays a moderating role in the impact of green financing on the sustainability of companies, and this role is positive and significant. Specifically, as management commitment improves, the impact of green financing on company sustainability also improves, while a decline in management commitment weakens the impact of green financing on sustainability. This finding is consistent with the results of studies by Daniel et al. (2023). This study concluded that the green financial practices of postal banks have a significant direct impact on the sustainability of companies. In other words, this indicates that the financial resources allocated and provided by banks to potential green companies and individuals have helped ensure that environmentally friendly projects are widely supported by green investment.
It is recommended that the board of directors and management of the postal bank consider the following points:
Offering Attractive Deposit Accounts: Provide deposit accounts with appealing interest rates and allocate funds for financing green projects.
Providing Low-Interest Loans: Offer low-interest loans for environmental projects such as renewable energy, energy efficiency optimization, and sustainable transportation.
Enhancing Green Financing Practices: Improve green financing practices through the allocation of green financial budgets, implementation of green methodologies, and compliance and oversight of green financial activities.
Mandatory Reporting for Borrowers: Require borrowing projects and companies to submit regular reports on their sustainability and environmental impacts.
Launching Awareness Campaigns: Initiate awareness campaigns among bank customers to encourage them to utilize green financial products.