Digitalization – CSR integration in transitional banking: Evidence from Ukraine and Kazakhstan

Zakharkina L. Rubanov P. Kabdybay A. Zakharkin O. Chernobay L.
2025 LLC CPC Business Perspectives

Banks and Bank Systems
2025 #20 Issue 4 256 - 275 pp.

Transitional banking systems increasingly rely on both digitalization and corporate social responsibility (CSR) to sustain resilience and public trust. This study evaluates whether the integration of digital capabilities and CSR relates to bank-level trust and reputation in Ukraine and Kazakhstan. The study assembled 2019–2023 indicators for four banks – PrivatBank, Monobank (Ukraine), Kaspi.kz, and Halyk Bank (Kazakhstan) – based on publicly available information. All measures were standardized, and Principal Component Analysis (PCA) was used to construct a Digital-CSR Index (DCSI). The first principal component (PC1), which jointly loads on digital innovation, CSR, and sustainability variables, explains 54.5% of total variance and serves as the composite index; document coding achieved Krippendorff ’s α=0.82. Results show a clear rank order: Kaspi.kz=4.48, PrivatBank=0.88, Monobank=−0.27, and Halyk Bank=−4.07. Higher DCSI values are associated with stronger outcomes in customer trust and reputation across cases (e.g., trust levels up to 8.5/10), and descriptive fits suggest that the integrated index captures more cross-sectional variation in these outcomes than single-domain proxies. Robustness checks excluding one indicator at a time and restricting Ukrainian observations to the post-2022 period preserve the loading structure and rank order. The study concludes that integration, rather than parallel pursuit, of digitalization and CSR is associated with superior legitimacy outcomes in transitional contexts. Country conditions shape this relationship: Ukraine’s crisis-driven digital expansion is tempered by disclosure volatility, whereas Kazakhstan’s steadier assurance environment favors platformized integration. The DCSI provides a transparent, replicable benchmark to guide managerial strategy and regulatory design in comparable financial systems.

banking , CSR , digitalization , ESG , fintech , reputation , transition , trust

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Department of Financial Technologies and Entrepreneurship, Sumy State University, Ukraine
Department of Accounting and Audition, Karagandy Buketov University, Kazakhstan
Department of Management and International Business, Lviv Polytechnic National University, Ukraine

Department of Financial Technologies and Entrepreneurship
Department of Accounting and Audition
Department of Management and International Business

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