Bank ownership structure and reputation through sustainability reporting in Indonesia

Purpose - This paper aims to find empirical evidence of bank ownership structures on bank reputation through the mediating role of sustainability reporting (SR) in Indonesian banking sector. Design/methodology/approach - This paper uses purposive sampling to obtain 279 observations from 43 listed banks in Indonesia Stock Exchange during 2012–2018. This study uses structure equation modelling analysis in the AMOS software and intervening test from the Sobel test to investigate the direct and indirect effect in this research model. Findings - The empirical results evidence: foreign, government and public ownership exhibit significant positive effect on SR but not with family ownership; SR positively affects bank reputation; SR appears as a mediator in which foreign, government and public ownership have a positive effect on the bank reputation through the indirect effect of SR while family ownership exhibits insignificant result. Practical implications - The practical contribution of this study is that SR is proven to increase bank reputation through the legitimation from the public, so the management must properly pay attention by publishing this report. Originality/value - This study provides several novelties to the literature: SR is used as a mediator in the relationships between bank ownership and reputation in which there is very limited studies investigating these aspects, especially in Indonesia. In addition, most SR studies in Indonesia still focus on SR determinants rather than its impact; customer deposits are used as a measurement basis of the bank reputation as it reflects better the trust and perception of the market so that it is relevant with the reputation level.