Title: Can accountability be legislated into a banking system? Evidence from the recent unpleasantness

Authors: Ronald Eastburn; Alex Sharland

Addresses: Mitchell College of Business, University of South Alabama, 340 MCOB, Mobile, AL 36688 251-414-8207, USA ' Mitchell College of Business, University of South Alabama, 251-460-6412, USA

Abstract: The financial crisis created economic havoc. To prevent a reoccurrence, many legislatures are passing laws that will require banks to be more accountable. The result is voluminous, turgid and complex regulation that tries to govern banking activity. The extent to which the new regulations will accomplish their goals is open to question. This study examines bank executive decision-making in the context of mindfulness and organisational routines to evaluate whether the regulations will work. Data is gathered from a group of senior bank executives. The results of the study indicate that legislating accountability is probably not viable and that cultural changes are more likely to be successful.

Keywords: banking systems; bank regulation; accountability; organisational mindfulness; banking industry; financial crisis; bank executives; executive decision making; cultural change; organisational culture.

DOI: 10.1504/IJSSS.2016.076008

International Journal of Society Systems Science, 2016 Vol.8 No.1, pp.1 - 13

Received: 30 Aug 2014
Accepted: 28 Jun 2015
Published online: 21 Apr 2016 *

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