Implementing Islamic principles and values in public budgeting: a battle of mindset

2021 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Intan Farhana ◽  
Clare Markham ◽  
Hasan Basri

Purpose This paper aims to analyse the implementation of Islamic principles and values within the budgetary management of one of Indonesia’s local governments, that of Aceh provincial government. The authors investigate the extent of Islamic teachings in Aceh’s public budgeting to gain an understanding of the challenges in implementing such ideas in practice. Design/methodology/approach To investigate these issues, the authors used a qualitative interpretive approach in this study, gathering written materials related to the budgeting process and conducting 19 interviews with local government officials, politicians, scholars and a corruption watchdog. Data was manually coded and thematically analysed. Findings In this study, the authors find that the budgetary management problems Aceh provincial government faces (including poor resource allocation, budget delays and poor accountability and transparency) indicate unsatisfactory performance in incorporating Islamic principles and values into government. The authors argue that a key challenge to a more complete implementation is that the Acehnese’ perspectives of Sharī’ah and its enactment remain limited to particular aspects, such as criminal law, rituals and symbols, and are not extended to wider governance and budgetary practices. Practical implications The findings are likely to be of interest to policymakers and those who hold them to account, in a region/country where Islamic values and principles largely influence the government and social affairs. They indicate that a broader conception of Sharī’ah would facilitate a more thorough implementation of Islamic principles and values within public budgeting. Originality/value This study is one of a handful of studies exploring Islamic public budgeting, with its originality lying in the investigation of the challenges faced in implementing Islamic principles in government budgeting.

2020 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Farzaneh Jalali Aliabadi ◽  
Graham Gal ◽  
Bita Mashyekhi

Purpose This study aims to examine the public budgeting process in the higher education and research sectors of Iran. It focuses on the actors’ budgetary roles and uses their perspectives to identify deficiencies in the budgeting process that cause delays in the transition to a performance-based system. Design/methodology/approach This study uses an interpretive research paradigm. It applies the grounded theory methodology to analyze the interviews conducted with those responsible for budgeting at Iranian public universities and research institutes (PURI). The results are interpreted using Wildavsky’s (1964) budgetary roles paradigm. Findings Using Wildavsky’s (1964) paradigm, “spenders” and “guardians” are identified and their perceptions about the public budgeting process are described. The results suggest a decoupling between the actors’ perceptions based on their budgetary roles. Spenders consider budgeting as a negotiation-based process, while guardians’ decisions are largely based on “outputs” and “information.” This study demonstrates that the disagreement over the perceived budget process was due to different budgetary roles. This disagreement leads to delays in the transformation of the budget process in Iranian PURI. Research limitations/implications While efforts are made to obtain a sample of individuals with different roles and responsibilities, the selection is limited by subjects’ willingness and availability. Therefore, sample size and diversity are potential limitations of this study. Practical implications When organizations attempt to transition to performance-based budgeting (PBB), it is critical to understand the current budgeting process to identify potential impediments. Understanding these impediments allows for alternate approaches to be considered. This is particularly important for universities that are mostly funded by the government (such as those in Iran). The results of this study show that the contradictory perceptions among budget actors have a significant impact on budgeting transition and require attention to understand budgeting decisions. Originality/value This study contributes to the budgeting literature in three ways. First, it examines the impact of endogenized shared values among budget participants on the budgeting transition process. Second, by focusing on budgetary roles, it contributes to the literature by examining disagreement on the perceived budgeting process and its implications for transforming the process into PBB. Finally, to the authors’ knowledge, this is the first study to examine the public budgeting process in a developing country – Iran.


2019 ◽  
Vol 57 (11) ◽  
pp. 3015-3034 ◽  
Author(s):  
Shirley Suellen Thesari ◽  
Flavio Trojan ◽  
Dayse Regina Batistus

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to present a model to support governmental local managers in public budget optimization, based on an integration of methods. It was constructed to fill the gap related to weights definition in problematic, commonly performed subjective assessments. This model supports the decision making in budget distribution identifying the importance of sectors in local governments, captured by historical data. Design/methodology/approach The model was developed following three steps: the first step included the exploitation of the characteristics of local sectors represented by city departments and the data collection procedure using time series (TS). In the second one, the weights regarding the importance of each city department were calculated by the UTASTAR method and based on historical data from the first step. Finally, an objective function was formulated using linear programming and constraints based on law specifications, and as a result, an optimized projection for public budget distribution was performed. Findings The results demonstrated that the model can be more efficient to weights definition, considering the behavior of preferences by historical data and supporting local public resources optimization, also to comply with the legislation, being able to predict or project future values available on the budget. Research limitations/implications The theoretical and practical implications are related with a novelty in recognizing the weights for criteria by a historical behavior of preferences. It can be bringing important directions for budget distribution. The main limitation detected in this study was the difficulty to formulate an assessment involving an integrated opinion from local managers and the population. Practical implications First of all, with the correct allocation of resources, the government has a greater advantage to capture investments from the negotiation with development entities and banks. Second, an efficient local government management can promote compliance with legislation and more transparent public policies. Social implications The correct distribution of resources affects the life quality for citizens, since the government acts as a provider of essential services for the population like education, safety, health, particularly for citizens who depend exclusively on the services offered by the local government. Moreover, it can also affect the environment as resources for garbage collection, disposal services and sanitation and, finally, affect the city development such as infrastructure, taxes, etc. Originality/value It might be considered an original contribution mainly by the development of a procedure to capture values for weights by TS and meeting the manager’s requirements, based on analytical, statistical and mathematical tools integrated.


2015 ◽  
Vol 9 (4) ◽  
pp. 498-516 ◽  
Author(s):  
Wahed Waheduzzaman ◽  
Shah J. Miah

Purpose – This study aims to describe an assessment methodology of e-Government readiness through an empirical study that investigates collaborative needs in operating effective governance at root-level public service delivery in a developing country context. Broader methodology that accommodates collective functions of the government should be used while assessing the readiness of e-Government implementation. Design/methodology/approach – The study is based on interview data collected from a total of 13 government officials, 21 elected representatives and 106 targeted citizens in the local government of Bangladesh. Findings – Through a qualitative case study, this paper empirically investigated a proposition of e-Government readiness within local government cases. The findings of the study may help rectify existing assessment methodologies in e-Government implementation. Research limitations/implications – The data analysis used a collaborative perspective subjectively rather than focusing on the objective manner to capture technological aspects. Practical implications – This finding could benefit various e-Government initiatives in developing countries, especially for addressing critical collaborative needs of e-Government implementation. Social implications – The findings of the paper represent social perspectives of new e-Government system implementation. Originality/value – The study proposed a holistic methodology of e-Government readiness assessment that can broaden existing assessment methodologies.


2018 ◽  
Vol 21 (4) ◽  
pp. 555-566 ◽  
Author(s):  
Tanya Gibbs

PurposeThis paper aims to analyse a new piece of Dubai legislation, Dubai Law No. (4) of 2016: The Dubai Economic Security Centre (DESC) Law, in respect of its role and impact on economic crime mitigation in the emirate and in the country as a whole.Design/methodology/approachThe jurisdiction’s various risks and vulnerabilities were examined to determine weaknesses and gaps in the current legislative and regulatory framework.FindingsThe findings highlight that despite numerous legislative efforts targeting economic crime, bringing economic criminals to justice has remained an issue in Dubai. Creation of the Dubai Economic Security Centre (DESC) may mark a significant change in that emirate’s approach to tackling this issue.Research limitations/implicationsThough the DESC itself is (as of this writing) still in a formative state, it is clearly intended to be a comprehensive response to expedite and streamline investigative processes and mitigate the multi-jurisdictional problems with which law enforcement has hitherto contended.Practical implicationsThe DESC is also intended to serve not only as an informational clearinghouse but also as an organisational entity with significant roles in law enforcement and even legislation.Social implicationsRegardless of its ambitious and promising results, the effectiveness of its organisational structure and performance is yet to be determined.Originality/valueThis research can be beneficial for the government officials in charge of establishment and launch of the DESC, as well as for future research as it points to its potential ambiguities and misinterpretations.


2020 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Gbemi Oladipo Olaore ◽  
Bimbo Onaolapo Adejare ◽  
Ekpenyong Ekpenyong Udofia

Purpose Betting games have become a global industry worth billions of dollars providing employment to millions and contributing to the gross domestic product (GDP) of several countries. While there are debates and controversies surrounding betting games discourse, a growing body of literature shows that it has been exacerbated by growing unemployment rates. This paper aims to examine the nexus between the increasing involvement of youth in betting games and unemployment from the Nigerian perspective. Design/methodology/approach The study adopts simple random and stratified sampling techniques to select participants for the study. Three hypotheses were tested for this study and confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) and structural equation model (SEM) was used to test the hypotheses. Findings The three hypotheses tested in this study were coined from previous literature. The study established a direct link between technology advancement, promises of winning big coupled with bonuses while unemployment was not significant to youth involvement in betting games. The study also showed that playing betting games provides another source of income to the youth, who are already engaged in one form of work or another. Finally, youth involvement in betting games has created awareness regarding different sports in the world, while contributing to Nigeria’s economy. Practical implications As betting games centre as a business in Nigeria has contributed substantially and positively to unemployment in Nigeria; the Government of Nigeria are encouraged to streamline and regulate the activities of the sector such that they can contribute significantly to the country GDP and provide employment opportunities to the youths. Originality/value The research shows that the reason why betting games have a massive turnaround of youths in Nigeria is not majorly because of unemployment but as another means to a substantial financial individual/family income. Thus, Nigerian youths see betting games as an avenue to make more money. The study is the first of its kind to examine the nexus between betting games, technology and unemployment hence, its contribution to knowledge.


2020 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Mengmeng Dou ◽  
Lesley Anne Hemphill ◽  
Lay Cheng Lim

PurposeThe paper aims to quantitatively investigate vacant industrial land valuation accuracy in China, given the importance of the industrial market as an underlying pillar to promote urban growth especially in emerging economies.Design/methodology/approachIn China, the government formulates a Land Benchmark Price (LBP) to serve as a price reference point to sell land rights. To gain an in-depth understanding of the valuation practice by LBP, this paper uses correlation analysis to investigate the varying dynamics between the transaction-based prices and LBP appraisal-based estimates. Furthermore, a margin of error examination investigates the distortion in LBP land appraisals, with an amended LBP presented to improve the accuracy of the current LBP method.FindingsDifferent influencing factors are identified to impact the actual market transaction prices and the LBP construction, leading to a large discrepancy in industrial land appraisals. A systematic problem is recognised that the construction of the LBP follows urban bid curve theory, whereas the land transaction prices do not, demonstrating that an urgent LBP update is needed to capture the market dynamics for industrial market.Practical implicationsThe paper sets out discrepancies in valuation accuracy surrounding the application of the LBP valuation approach in China. This has practical implications for valuers in terms of raising their awareness of the deficiencies in the approach and the pitfalls they need to guard against in their appraisals. It also has implications for developers and investors who rely on valuer appraisals to assess the viability of land purchases; hence, they need to express caution in the appraisal advice sought. Finally, the results demonstrate to the standard setters how they need to modify the LBP equations to better capture market dynamics.Originality/valueThe paper examines valuation accuracy in transitional economies, through valuation differentials between appraised price and the transacted price. The value of the work lies in the analysis of the fundamental differentials between market price and appraised value, which is of importance to investors/developers, practicing valuers, as well as government officials responsible for setting the valuation standards.


2016 ◽  
Vol 10 (4) ◽  
pp. 770-786 ◽  
Author(s):  
Chunkui Zhu ◽  
Chen Wu

Purpose This paper aims to examine different hypotheses concerning the effects of public service motivation (PSM) and other attitudinal or institutional dimensions on organizational performance (OP). Specifically, based on the experience of Chinese provincial governments, this study provides new evidence about how PSM may affect OP. Design/methodology/approach This study collected data from a survey of different provincial government departments in Sichuan Province, Hubei Province, Hunan Province and Chongqing Municipality in 2011. Using data from 761 respondents, Pearson correlation analysis and regression analysis were used to explore the relationships between related factors. Findings PSM, job satisfaction, affective commitment and job involvement have statistically significant effects on OP, and these results are consistent with the findings of previous researches that PSM positively affected OP at a significant level. The results suggest that, if civil servants have a strong PSM, the performance of their organizations will be high. Research limitations/implications Future research should look for additional factors that affect OP, comparing employees’ perceptions of an organization’s performance with objective data to determine whether, and to what degree, subjective measures of performance are valid measures of OP in the public sector. Practical implications In the process of improving government performance, it is significant to give attention to the government employees’ mentality. The government training and promotion system should encourage civil servants to care about the public interest. A more flattened organization should be considered as part of the next steps in government reform, and more opportunities should be provided to involve more government employees in policy making. Originality/value This study helps to clarify the effects of individual factors of PSM on OP in China in a tightly controlled bureaucratic environment, where related data are hardly accessible.


2017 ◽  
Vol 8 (4) ◽  
pp. 474-483 ◽  
Author(s):  
Innocent Otache

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to explore agripreneurship development as a strategy for economic growth and development. Design/methodology/approach Though a few related literature were reviewed, this paper relies heavily on the author’s viewpoint regarding how Nigeria can grow and develop its economy through agripreneurship development. Findings The present economic challenges that Nigeria is facing are blamed on overdependence on the oil sector, bad governance, corruption, leadership failure, policy inconsistency, overdependence on imported goods and ostensible neglect of the agricultural sector. Also, policymakers, economic analysts and the government have advocated strongly for diversification of the economy. Besides, there is a consensus among scholars, economic analysts and policymakers that “agriculture is the answer.” Research limitations/implications This paper addresses specifically one sector of the economy – the agricultural sector. On the other hand, economic crisis needs to be addressed holistically by resolving specific issues that confront different sectors of the economy. Practical implications This paper has some insightful policy and practical implications for the Nigerian Government and Nigerians. The government and Nigerians need to take practical steps to grow and develop the economy. On the part of the government, apart from the need to transform the agricultural sector by allocating enough funds to it, the government should establish well-equipped agripreneurship development centers and organize periodically agripreneurship development programmes for the main purpose of training and developing both current and potential agripreneurs who will be able to apply today’s agricultural techniques and practices which involve a great deal of creativity and innovation for a successful agribusiness. The federal government should integrate agripreneurship education into Nigeria’s education system. Similarly, the Nigerian people, particularly the youths or graduates should be encouraged to choose agribusiness as a career. Originality/value While previous papers have offered different solutions to the current economic crisis that Nigeria is experiencing, ranging from economic to structural reforms, this paper differs significantly from others by recommending specifically agripreneurship development as a strategy for revamping Nigeria’s economy from its current recession. Moreover, there is a dearth of literature on agripreneurship and agripreneurship development. This paper therefore fills the literature gap.


2021 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Dadang Hartanto ◽  
Juhriyansyah Dalle ◽  
A. Akrim ◽  
Hastin Umi Anisah

Purpose This study aims to investigate the association of perceived accountability, perceived responsiveness and perceived transparency, and public trust in local government. Additionally, mediation of the perceived effectiveness of e-governance was also tested between these relationships. Design/methodology/approach Using a quantitative cross-sectional field survey, primary data was collected at local administration levels from two cities in Indonesia. The final data set of 355 respondents was then analyzed using SmartPls3 and the measurement and structural models were tested. Findings Positive results were obtained for all the hypothesized links (direct and indirect relationships). The study’s findings revealed useful insights for policymakers and researchers regarding the public’s perception of good governance and their expectations from the government, which further lead toward trust in local governments. Practical implications The study concluded that good governance practices develop and enhance the public’s trust in the government, thus provided key policy directions. Originality/value This study contributes to the body of knowledge related to good governance elements and their impact on public trust in the local government via the underlying mechanism of perceived e-governance effectiveness in developing countries in general and particularly the Indonesian context. Moreover, it is a unique study in the good governance domain while considering three good governance elements into a single theoretical framework. Previous studies have explored these elements individually with public trust, so this combined framework advances the body of knowledge. This research’s findings also contributed toward validating good governance theory with e-governance effectiveness and public trust integration in a single comprehensive framework. This research also helped answer the questions arising from past literature about declining public trust trends in local governments.


2021 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Atie Rachmiatie ◽  
Fitri Rahmafitria ◽  
Karim Suryadi ◽  
Ajeng Ramadhita Larasati

Purpose The research aims to classify halal hotels based on Islamic values as embodied in both physical and non-physical attributes. Design/methodology/approach This study explores the perceived values of business owners of the halal hotels. Findings Perceptions of hotel owners are divided into three types: those who view the value of halal hotel only in terms of branding and attracting consumers; those who consider the ideology behind halal hotels based on strong Islamic values; and those who avoid halal branding but implement Islamic values in their hotels. For the hotel industry, halal certification is not a priority because a minimum effort at implementing halal standards can already attract Muslim customers. This case is especially true for countries where Muslims make up the majority of the population. Research limitations/implications This study was limited to a case study in Bandung and Bangkok as a representative of halal tourism in Asia. Hence, it could be extended by conducting comparative studies with other cities in Association of South East Asian Nation which already declare to develop halal tourism. Practical implications The findings of this research show that there is a large variety of halal hotel products, depending on the Islamic values upheld, which is causing difficulties for the government in creating standards. Then the result can help inform the government in establishing the strategic framework of halal tourism development, more particularly in the formulation of policy for industrial actors. Originality/value The findings contribute to the concept of product-centered business, in which it is generally assumed that industrial actors are frequently focused on the mere label of “halal” and ignore the true values. However, the research shows that some industrial actors put Islamic values first instead of the mere halal label, and another case shows that some of them implement Islamic values in their business but avoid halal branding. This empirical evidence shows that in halal hotels, the concept of product-centered is not always proper. The quality of halal hotel products depends on the Islamic value of the owner, not always influenced by business imperatives.


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