Public Trust – A Bank’s Non-financial Capital
Public Trust – A Bank’s Non-financial Capital

Summary/Abstract: Objective: The article is devoted to an important determinant of a bank’s success, which is public trust and the bank’s ethics in relation to employees and external stakeholders, especially customers. The aim of the article is to analyse the concept of the institution of public trust – with particular emphasis on business ethics and critical verification of the legitimacy of assigning this feature to banks – in the context of a diagnosis of the level of trust towards banks and the reasons for customer attachment in the banking sector. Research Design and Methods: A review of the subject-literature and various reports is conducted in order to identify the dimensions of public trust as a factor which determines a bank’s activity. In order to examine opinions about the ethical behaviour of banks operating in Poland, the authors conducted a survey among students of the University of Economics in Katowice in May 2020. The survey was addressed to full--time and part-time masters degree students from all faculties. Findings: The most important conclusion from the study is that the factors which have an impact on a bank’s ethical behaviour are diverse. The most important among them are connected with the new role of banks in the economy and legal regulations affecting their behaviour. Factors that foster unethical behaviour were also identified, with the pressure to create a sales plan playing the most prominent role. Implications/Recommendations: Customer trust in conventional and remote forms of contact with banks has not been addressed, although it certainly has an impact on trust in banks and on the durability of the customers’ relationships with banks. This opens up the possibility for broader research in the future. Contribution: The article gives a specific perspective on the issue of trust in banks. It looks at the issue from a perspective of students, who are generally seen as economically aware and who have a high level of knowledge about the behaviour of banks.

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