Modelling the sustainable expectations of cooperative bank members: The case of three Banques Populaires

Abstract

To analyze how members want Sustainable Development to be expressed in cooperative banks, the article proposes to model their expectations based on Elkington’s work on the triple bottom line. The survey of 963 members of a large French cooperative bank confirms the relevance of the proposed four-component model and the validity of the measurement scale. Furthermore, it provides a global and hierarchical view of member expectations. It shows that the economic and environmental dimensions and board members supporting their expectations are more important than the social component. This work shows the relevance of Elkington’s work for cooperative banks, enriches the knowledge of a central player in the governance of cooperative banks, and provides bank managers with a basis for reflection for implementing their sustainable development strategy.