Governance Trust as a Structural Driver of Sustainability Preparedness: A Comparative SEM Analysis in Emerging Market Financial Cooperatives

Institutional trust plays a critical role in shaping organizational responses to risk, particularly in emerging market financial systems. This study examines the psychosocial mechanisms through which institutional trust influences preparedness for social responsibility (SR) implementation in Ecuadorian savings and credit cooperatives. We used covariance-based structural equation modeling (CB-SEM) with 5000 bootstrap resamples (n = 2,116) to assess four competing structural models. These models compared direct, sequential, and parallel mediation requirements. The findings demonstrate that institutional trust has a significant direct impact on preparation (β = 0.626, p < 0.001), accounting for 42.3% of its variance. Statistical rejection of full mediation models validates that readiness cannot be exclusively elucidated through cognitive or affective risk perception pathways. Trust exhibited a minor positive correlation with anxiety (β = 0.100, p < 0.001). Affective mechanism: This link is statistically significant, but its size is little, which means it doesn't have a big effect. These results show that being ready for SR implementation in cooperative finance is more about governance than about threats. The study enhances sustainability research by recognizing institutional trust as a fundamental factor influencing organizational resilience in emerging market financial cooperatives.