Optimizing the utilization of government-owned tangible assets through managing institutional factors in Indonesia

This study aims to examine whether the institutional factors – governance, asset knowledge, internal control system, and competencies – optimize the utilization of provincial, regency, and municipal governments’ tangible assets in supporting public services. In contrast to previous research, which employed Sharia ethics as exogenous variables, this study includes Sharia ethics as a moderating variable in the model. Sharia ethics is one specific factor in implementing Sharia principles by the government that applies Islamic law in Indonesia. The province of Aceh, with all its regencies and municipals, is the only province that applies Islamic principles in running its government. Primary data were collected using a questionnaire sent to 285 provincial and district government asset managers using a Google form; 229 questionnaires were returned. Structural equation modelling (SEM) was employed to analyze the complex relationships and the hypotheses. The results reveal that institutional factors are not strong enough to optimize the utilization of tangible assets without having deep Sharia ethics. It meant that Sharia ethics is necessary for strengthening the relationship between the institutional factors and the optimization of government asset management in provincial, regency, and municipal governments. The results provide recommendations for provincial, regency, and municipal governments to develop appropriate and reasonable regulations and standards for optimizing asset management within the Aceh government.