Investigating the Drivers of Operational Risk in the Central Branches of the Selected Banks in Tehran and Strategies for Its Mitigation
Keywords:
Operational risk, human resource weaknesses, process weaknesses, external events, system weaknessesAbstract
The main objective of the present study was to investigate the drivers of operational risk in the central branches of the selected banks in Tehran and to identify strategies for reducing such risks. In the present study, the statistical population consisted of all experts, specialists, and officials working in the headquarters and branches of the selected banks in Tehran. A random sampling method was employed in this research. To determine content validity and assess whether the data collection instrument adequately represented the content intended to be measured, 10 questionnaires were distributed among experts. Based on the collected information and considering the Content Validity Ratio (CVR) according to Lawshe’s table, the minimum acceptable validity level, given the number of evaluators, was determined to be 62%. Furthermore, Cronbach’s alpha coefficient and composite reliability were used to examine the reliability of the questionnaire. Since the Average Variance Extracted (AVE) for all variables exceeded 0.50, and the composite reliability and Cronbach’s alpha values for all variables were greater than 0.70, the measurement instrument (questionnaire) was considered valid and reliable. Four major tools for data collection include documents and records, observation, interviews, and questionnaires. In this study, valuable information was gathered through interviews with 15 managers and experts. After several stages of preliminary reviews and modifications, the final questionnaire consisting of 35 items was prepared for implementation. Descriptive and inferential statistics were used to analyze the research data. Descriptive statistics were employed to calculate measures of central tendency and dispersion, while inferential statistics were used to test the research hypotheses. Data analyses were conducted using SPSS, VisualPLS, and MINITAB software packages. Based on the findings, the significant impact of human resource weaknesses, as a driver of operational risk, on the occurrence of losses related to operational risk in the selected banks was confirmed. In addition, the substantial impact of process weaknesses, as a driver of operational risk, on the occurrence of operational risk losses in the selected banks was also confirmed. The findings further indicated that external events had a significant effect, as a driver of operational risk, on the occurrence of operational risk losses in the banking sector.
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