Websites Visits and Financial Performance for GCC Banks: The Moderating Role of Environmental, Social and Governance Performance

Abstract

The volume of services provided through websites increases over time, particularly in the banking sector. It is challenging to develop banking services to achieve optimal financial performance. As a result, this article aims to investigate the impact of bank website visits on the financial performance of the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) banking sector, taking into account the moderating role of the environmental, social and governance (ESG) performance. The article is based on an empirical analysis through a content analysis approach based on a sample of 64 GCC banks from 2014 to 2020. The findings showed that the frequency of website visits significantly affects the financial performance measures of banks, such as return on assets (ROA), return on equity (ROE), market value (Tobin’s Q), net interest margin (NIM) and return on investment (ROI). In addition, the ESG performance of banks attracts more website visitors and enhances them with the idea of dealing with banks that enhances financial performance. The findings indicate that banking websites as a tool for public relations attract visitors and thus turn them into customers by changing the behavioural intention of individuals, which affects their decisions to engage in banking transactions and thus raises the level of financial performance of banks. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first study that examines the relationship between website visits and financial performance. Therefore, it bridges the research gap in this field and thus provides a roadmap for more potential research ideas in the future.