E-BUDGETING, E-PLANNING, AND BUDGET TRANSPARENCY ONBUDGET EFFICIENCY: THE MEDIATING ROLE OF HUMANRESOURCE CAPACITY

Abstrak

This study examines how the use of electronic planning and electronic budgeting systems relates to budget efficiency in local government, and whether the capacity of civil servants transmits that relationship. Budget transparency is modelled as a further determinant of efficiency rather than as a contingency condition. Data were collected through a questionnaire completed by 385 officials involved in planning and budgeting at local government agencies, using fifty reflective indicators on a seven-point scale. The model was estimated with partial least squares structural equation modelling and assessed through bootstrapping with 2,000 resamples. Electronic budgeting and electronic planning are positively related to human resource capacity and to budget efficiency, while human resource capacity shows the strongest association with efficiency. The indirect paths that run through human resource capacity are close to twice the size of the corresponding direct paths, which indicates that digital systems relate to efficiency mainly through the competence of the officials who operate them. Budget transparency is also positively related to efficiency. The study extends the resource-based view to public budgeting by treating administrative capacity as the complementary capability that converts a widely available technology into efficiency gains, and it reports evidence from eastern Indonesia.

Kata kunci

• budget efficiency
• budget transparency
• e-budgeting
• e-planning
• human resource capacity