Understanding the External Pressure and Behavior of Commercial Banks’ Environmental Risk Management: An Empirical Study Undertaken in the Yangtze River Delta of China

The present study employed a quantitative survey to ascertain whether the external pressure of environmental risk management (ERM) on commercial banks was a contributing factor to their ERM behavior. Data was obtained using questionnaires from 204 branches of commercial banks located in the Yangtze River Delta of China. The relationship between external pressure and behavior was tested using a linear structural relations model through path analysis. The results revealed that external pressure of ERM was significantly and positively related to the behavior and that pressure from governmental regulations was the most important contributing factor in the passive feedback behavior and preventive behavior of commercial banks. The pressure from markets was the most important contributing factor in banks’ active participation behavior; the pressure from community and NGOs was the most important contributing factor in their enthusiastic behavior.