Determinants of local government public service quality: Evidence from the developing economy

Abstract

Public service delivery in Indonesia has been mandated to local governments following decentralization (Lewis et al., 2020). Due to public criticism, this research investigates public service quality determinants from local politics, head, and financial factors. Using the purposive sampling method, we collect secondary data from the authorized government institutions during 2016–2019, analyzed with panel data regression. The findings demonstrate that the average achievement of public service quality in Indonesia is at a high level with Java and Bali regions having better average accomplishments than other geographic regions. However, there still exist several local governments with medium and even low public service quality that requires urgent improvement. Further, we find that local government women’s political representation in the legislative board, operational expenditure, and capital expenditure positively affect public service quality while other variables exhibit insignificant effects. Our study provides practical implications to the public for public service quality improvement. Firstly, the public should elect accountable candidates with the best qualifications during local elections. Local government should also improve financial management by allocating adequate expenditure budget for public service delivery. Despite still being limited to using quantitative analysis only that can be improved in future studies by employing a mixed method.