Cultural Politics of Enterprise Lending and Controls in Closely-held Banks: A Case Study from Sri Lanka

Purpose ? The paper focusses on the enterprise lending and control process in the closely-held banks, with special reference to Sri Lanka. It explores how those processes are being influenced by the distinctive cultural and political processes at organsational and society level. Design/methodology/approach ? The study relies on three cases built upon the life experiences of several employees in a closely-held bank, articulating multiple sources of evidence: interviews, observations, documents, archival records, open-ended questionnaires, internet conversations and exchange of e-mails. For the data analysis, it adopts the cultural political economy theory. Findings ? The study?s findings reveal how the cultural and political factors, such as egoistic motives and politics, gifts/rewards and manipulative culture, and exploitative and discriminatory politics at organizational and society levels articulate into the enterprise lending and control process (?five? Cs) in closely held banks. The ?rational? enterprise lending and control process in this context, merely become a ?ceremonial? practice, serving the petty interest of powerful capitalist business owners. Originality/Value ? The paper is the first "qualitative inquiry" on the inter-linkages between enterprise lending and control processes and organizational and society level cultural politics in closely-held banks in Less Developed Countries (LDCs). The previous studies on bank lending and control either used large-scale surveys or otherwise, devoted their interest towards the role and impact of accounting in World Bank and IMF led lending schemes and policies, particularly in LDCs.