The Role of Information Technology in Enhancing Financial Sustainability: An Applied Study in Iraqi Commercial Banks.

Abstract

The present research was conducted to examine the role that information technology plays in enhancing financial sustainability among the commercial banks in the Tikrit governorate of Iraq. The type of quantitative descriptive approach was used, and it depended on cross-sectional data gathered through the use of the structured survey. The study analyzed primary data. The method of sampling that was used was a simple random sampling method, and the employees were sampled using an online questionnaire which resulted in a total response of 421 people who were all considered as having been sampled and as valid to further analysis. The statistical package of the social sciences version 26 was used to manage the data analysis. The implication of the findings of this study was that the commercial banks sampled in this study have moderate to high degrees of implemented information technology. Besides, there is moderate financial sustainability in these institutions. The results obtained after the multiple linear regression analysis showed that information technology and its dimensions had a significant effect on enhancing financial sustainability among the commercial banks in Tikrit governorate in Iraq. The correlation coefficient (R) of the regression model was found to be 0.767 with the R2 found to be 0.584 indicating that the independent variable and its components explained 58.4 percent of the variance in the dependent variable indicating the strong explanatory ability of the model. Moreover, the entire information technology variable was relevant in enhancing financial sustainability with the communication networks dimension recording the greatest impact of 0.280, implying a positive effect. This means that the availability of communication networks increases by 28 percent in financial sustainability among the surveyed commercial banks and a unit increment. With the results of the study, one of the recommendations was on the possible next research to explore other variables that may be included in the research framework, which may mediate or moderate the relationship. This would help foster a more extensive and thorough understanding of how to better integrate information technology with other organizational factors to achieve favorable outcomes in financial sustainability.