The roles of accountability and transparency on public trust in the village governments: The intervening role of COVID-19 handling services quality

Pratolo, Suryo; Sofyani, Hafiez; Maulidini, Ririn Wulan Article The roles of accountability and transparency on public trust in the village governments: The intervening role of COVID-19 handling services quality Cogent Business & Management Provided in Cooperation with: Taylor & Francis Group Suggested Citation: Pratolo, Suryo; Sofyani, Hafiez; Maulidini, Ririn Wulan (2022) : The roles of accountability and transparency on public trust in the village governments: The intervening role of COVID-19 handling services quality, Cogent Business & Management, ISSN 2331-1975, Taylor & Francis, Abingdon, Vol. 9, Iss. 1, pp. 1-15, https://doi.org/10.1080/23311975.2022.2110648 This Version is available at: https://hdl.handle.net/10419/289167 Standard-Nutzungsbedingungen: Die Dokumente auf EconStor dürfen zu eigenen wissenschaftlichen Zwecken und zum Privatgebrauch gespeichert und kopiert werden. 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This open access article is distributed under a Creative Commons Attribution (CC-BY) 4.0 license. Published online: 10 Aug 2022. Submit your article to this journal Article views: 4221 View related articles View Crossmark data Citing articles: 6 View citing articles ACCOUNTING, CORPORATE GOVERNANCE & BUSINESS ETHICS | RESEARCH ARTICLE The roles of accountability and transparency on public trust in the village governments: The intervening role of COVID-19 handling services quality Suryo Pratolo 1 *, Hafiez Sofyani 2 and Ririn Wulan Maulidini 2 Abstract: This study aims to examine the relationship between accountability and transparency during the COVID-19 pandemic towards public trust in village governments through the quality of COVID-19 handling services as an intervening variable. This research was conducted among village governments in the Yogyakarta Special Region Province, Indonesia. The data were collected by distributing survey questionnaires, with 116 village governments participating in this study. Respondents in this study were represented by two groups, where village officials measured accountability and transparency practices, while members of the Village Representative Council measured the quality of COVID-19 handling services and public trust variables. Partial Least Square (PLS) was then used to test the hypotheses. The results showed that accountability for managing the COVID-19 response budget only had an indirect positive relationship with public trust through the quality of COVID-19 handling services. Meanwhile, the direct relationship between accountability and trust was negatively significant. Furthermore, transparency in the management of the COVID-19 response budget was not associated with the public trust, either directly or indirectly. Suryo Pratolo ABOUT THE AUTHOR Suryo Pratolo is an Associate Professor at Department of Accounting, Universitas Muhammadiyah Yogyakarta, Indonesia. He is also Vice-Rector for Financial and Asset Management Affairs. His research interests cover public sector accounting and managerial accounting. Hafiez Sofyani is an Assistant Professor at the Department of Accounting, Universitas Muhammadiyah Yogyakarta, Indonesia. His research interests include public sector accounting, e-government, and e-govern- ance. Ririn Wulan Maulidini is a research assistant at Accounting Research Centre, Universitas Muhammadiyah Yogyakarta, Indonesia. Her research interests pervade public sector accounting. PUBLIC INTEREST STATEMENT Poor of handling the COVID-19 pandemic and the corruption scandal of the OCVID-19 pandemic aid fund has lowered public trust in Indonesia. To recover the crisis of trust, the village government as the spearhead of the central government in handling COVID-19 pandemic is required to restore public trust, especially at the grassroots level. This study found that the quality of COVID-19 handling services was a critical trigger for increasing village community trust, which in turn would be related to trust in the state government. Furthermore, the practice of good governance principles such as accountability and transparency are not positively associated with the village community trust. In fact, the quality of COVID-19 response services is a mediator or prerequisite for a positive relationship between the accountability and public trust where previously the direct relationship between the two variables was negative. Pratolo et al., Cogent Business & Management (2022), 9: 2110648 https://doi.org/10.1080/23311975.2022.2110648 Page 1 of 15 Received: 15 June 2022 Accepted: 21 July 2022 *Corresponding author: Suryo Pratolo, Department of Accounting, Faculty of Economics and Business, Universitas Muhammadiyah Yogyakarta, Bantul, Indonesia E-mail: [email protected] Reviewing editor: Collins G. Ntim, Accounting, University of Southampton, Southampton, UK Additional information is available at the end of the article © 2022 The Author(s). This open access article is distributed under a Creative Commons Attribution (CC-BY) 4.0 license. Subjects: Government & Non-Profit Accounting; Public Management; Organizational Change Keywords: public trust; transparency; accountability; quality of COVID-19 handling services; village government 1. Introduction Numerous countries’ health sectors and economies have been challenged by the novel coronavirus known as COVID-19. Asia countries such as India, Iran, and Indonesia appear to have been among the worst affected, with a significant number of cases. As of 25 August 2021, Indonesia has recorded more than four million infections and over 128,000 deaths (COVID-19 Handling Task Force, 2021). A high level of COVID-19 cases is deemed due to a failure of government policies, with the likely effect of damaging public trust (Broadbent, 2020). Unfortunately, the situation in Indonesia has been exacerbated by many cases of misuse of COVID-19 budgets across multiple regions (Indonesia Corruption Watch, 2020a). During the pandemic, public trust has also been eroded by the ineffective management and provision of services for tackling COVID-19. It includes the uneven distribution of aid in terms of time, the recipient community, and the distribution area, as well as unclear procedures and requirements for receiving assistance (Dewi, 2020). Low public trust in the government then creates suspicion regarding the system of governance and non-compliance with government policies (United Nations, 2007). It may further hinder the effectiveness of the government’s efforts to tackle COVID-19. Beeri et al. (2019) believe that to increase public trust, the community’s most pressing needs must be met to enable the government’s effective implementation of policies or appeals. It has been especially relevant during the COVID-19 pandemic. In Indonesia, where most of the population lives in villages, the village governments have acted as the main spearhead for overcoming COVID-19 in the community. The central government, for its part, has specifically allocated funds for COVID-19 handling programmes. In addition, central and regional governments ordered the village governments to reallocate parts of their budget and focus on overcoming the COVID-19 pandemic. However, there have been cases of misuse of the funds allocated to tackle COVID-19 involving the Minister of Social Affairs (Indonesia Corruption Watch, 2021). As a shocking scandal, it was highly likely to trigger public suspicion regarding the extent to which the village fund allocations had been refocused in an accountable and transparent manner to fight COVID-19. Further, it has the potential to damage public trust. Yet, when faced with extraordinary events that lead to chaos, such as a pandemic, the country must maintain the trust of its public. The government must also support the public if it is to rapidly and effectively overcome the pandemic (Cole et al., 2021; Podger, 2015). To achieve this goal, the government must convey its actions to tackle the pandemic to the public through accountability and transparency practices. On the other hand, during the pandemic, the central government, through the Minister of Finance, also ordered that village fund budgets be refocused on handling COVID-19 in all Indonesian village governments (Minister of Finance, 2021). The main priority areas when allocating COVID-19 funds were direct cash assistance, prevention, handling, coaching and the purchase of support materials for tackling COVID-19 at the village level (Minister of Finance, 2021). The budget allocation was set at a minimum of 8% of village funds (Presidential Regulation, 2021). However, given the prevalence of fraud in using social assistance funds intended for disasters in Indonesia, it has been critical to emphasise accountability, transparency, and the quality of the COVID-19 response. These elements aim to maintain public trust, which is crucial during the pandemic. Drawing from the above discussions, it can be deduced that since the village governments basically carry out the prevention of the COVID-19 pandemic at the grassroots level, the public trust of the community in the central government will be affected by the extent of their trust Pratolo et al., Cogent Business & Management (2022), 9: 2110648 https://doi.org/10.1080/23311975.2022.2110648 Page 2 of 15 in the village government. It is also because the village government is the closest party to the community, considered an arm of the central government. Several studies have shown that dimensions of good governance, such as accountability and transparency, play an essential role in creating the public trust (Beshi & Kaur, 2020; Nurrizkiana et al., 2017). However, Apriliana (2019) found that while the accountability of village budget allocation management positively affected public trust, transparency did not. Sofyani et al. (2022), in contrast, revealed that transparency had a positive effect on public trust within the village community, while accountability did not. This inconsistency in previous studies’ results has created a research gap. Moreover, Beeri et al. (2019) argued that another important aspect in securing public trust is the government’s active role in meeting people’s needs to achieve the desired satisfaction level. In the context of the COVID-19 pandemic, it is achieved through providing quality public services, notably in response to COVID-19. The special measures implemented during the pandemic, such as an economic stimulus, helped with health problems (Gozgor, 2022). These types of prevention and support programmes might enhance public trust and create greater synergy in accelerating the handling of COVID-19 (Broadbent, 2020). Thus, good quality COVID-19 services are a prerequisite for attaining public trust, in addition to the importance of efforts to maintain the accountability and transparency of the COVID-19 response budget. To date, research on the contribution of good governance to public trust has only been conducted in normal conditions and not in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic. On the one hand, based on reports in the mass media, on the ground, public trust in the government has declined during the pandemic (Indonesia Corruption Watch, 2020b). However, the full extent and impact of the governance practices of government on maintaining public trust during the pandemic have not been fully explored. As a result, there is still a gap regarding what factors, from the perspective of public accounting, are important determinants of public trust during a pandemic. Additionally, in terms of public culture, there is a gap in the literature related to the relationship between accountability and trust. Wang et al. (2019) suggested that the relationship between accountability and trust can vary between communities with different cultures, i.e., communal versus exchange norms. Communal norms refer to people who do not demand too much regarding the accountability of a mandated job. The opposite applies in a society with exchange norms (Clark & Mills, 1979; Wang et al., 2019). While communal norms are more closely related to the collective culture of villages or rural communities, exchange norms are more prominent in individualistic communities such as urban or city areas (Miller et al., 2014). Meanwhile, studies on public trust have been mostly undertaken involving urban communities and rarely target rural communities. In fact, in Indonesia, the number of rural communities is significant. Thus, in the era of democracy, the voices of those in the village must also be concerned by the state government. To cover the highlighted gaps above, this study, therefore, aims to examine the role of accountability and transparency of the COVID-19 response budget in promoting public trust in village governments, where the quality of COVID-19 service is presented as an intervening. This study presents several contributions. Theoretically, the study results contribute to the body of knowledge by expanding the literature on good governance practices by public sector organisations and their role in building public trust during the pandemic. This study also extends public sector literature by using a village government and its specific nature, namely people with communal norms, as its setting, as suggested by Wang et al. (2019). Practically, this research provides recommendations to village governments and policymakers in Indonesia in particular and developing countries in general for increasing public trust, especially during the pandemic. However, the insight obtained from this research could also be relevant in other disaster situations. Pratolo et al., Cogent Business & Management (2022), 9: 2110648 https://doi.org/10.1080/23311975.2022.2110648 Page 3 of 15 2. Literature review 2.1. Indonesian village governance: normal condition vs COVID-19 pandemic Since 2004, village administration in Indonesia has been under regency jurisdiction and coordinated at the regency level. However, since 2014, Indonesia has begun granting autonomy to its villages through Act No. 6 of 2014. As a consequence, today, the village governments have full control over their governance and management affairs. They also can receive village fund allocations directly from the central government. During the pandemic, the central government, through the Minister of Finance, ordered that village fund budgets be refocused on handling COVID-19 in all Indonesian village governments (Minister of Finance, 2021). The main priority areas when allocating COVID-19 funds were direct cash assistance, prevention, handling, coaching and the purchase of support materials for tackling COVID-19 at the village level (Minister of Finance, 2021). The budget allocation was set at a minimum of 8% of village funds (Presidential Regulation, 2021). However, given the prevalence of fraud in using social assistance funds intended for disasters in Indonesia, it has been critical to emphasise accountability, transparency, and the quality of the COVID-19 response. These elements aim to maintain public trust, which is crucial during the pandemic. 2.2. Theoretical underpinning Explicitly, this study is underpinned by legitimacy theory. C. M. Deegan (2019) argued that legitimacy theory adopts the central assumption that the maintenance of successful operations requires managers to ensure that the organisation is run according to societal expectations; in this way, it is seen as “legitimate”. Conceptually, legitimacy theory proposes that organisations, due to a social contract, continuously strive to ensure that they operate within the boundaries and norms acceptable to their respective societies (C. Deegan, 2002). In a community with strong customs, the village government is certainly not separated from the prevailing customary and cultural norms. In fact, such contextual links have entered the realm of government and bureaucracy. Therefore, disclosure and transparency may become essential tools to maintain the legitimacy of the village government and village heads. Heald (2018) explained that government transparency would promote public trust and strengthen organisational legitimacy. However, aside from transparency, the quality of COVID-19 services has become another important instrument since the president expressly instructed it. The community will perceive the quality of services for overcoming the pandemic as a social imperative because it involves many people’s lives (Beeri et al., 2019). As such, when these services are delivered properly, the organisation potentially secures trust and legitimacy from society. 2.3. Hypotheses development Village government accountability refers to properly managing resources for the community (Kurniasih et al., 2017). The existence of accountability for resource management (for example, the village government’s budget for managing COVID-19 countermeasures) will play a key role in creating the public trust (Fitriani et al., 2020). C. M. Deegan (2019) suggested that accountability relates to an organisation’s efforts to gain public trust and “legitimate” status by delivering operational information that aligns with the prevailing societal norms. Studies such as Beshi and Kaur (2020) and Nurrizkiana et al. (2017) strengthened the assertion that the accountability of government financial management had a positive effect on the trust of public stakeholders. However, according to Wang et al. (2019), village communities, which often feature communal norms, will tend to easily trust the village government that seeks to maintain accountability, notably regarding funds allocated for the COVID-19 response. Based on the preceding discussions, the following hypothesis was formulated: H 1 . Accountability for managing the budget for the COVID-19 response is associated with public trust. Pratolo et al., Cogent Business & Management (2022), 9: 2110648 https://doi.org/10.1080/23311975.2022.2110648 Page 4 of 15 Moreover, transparency is significant at the village governance level since the village is a programme-based organisation capable of receiving a direct response from the community (Yen & Van Luong, 2008). In this case, financial and non-financial information on COVID-19 constitutes one form of transparency highly demanded by the public (Saraite-Sariene et al., 2019). The effect of transparency on public trust can be explained by the legitimacy theory. With transparency, the community can monitor whether the village government is operating according to its norms and culture (C. M. Deegan, 2019). Therefore, transparency in managing COVID-19 budget allocations is expected to increase public trust in the village (Park & Blenkinsopp, 2011). Some studies have found that transparency was positively associated with public trust (Beeri et al., 2019; Beshi & Kaur, 2020). However, Grimmelikhuijsen and Klijn (2015) revealed that transparency could stimulate poor quality decision-making so that it could damage institutional trust when it was felt that public decision-making was not always rational or based on generalisable principles. Based on the discussions above, the following hypothesis was formulated: H 2 . Transparency in managing the budget for the COVID-19 response is associated with public trust. Furthermore, governments are responsible for providing the services expected to meet the community’s needs (Beeri et al., 2019); this has been especially pertinent during the COVID-19 pandemic. C. M. Deegan (2019) argued that the organisation must meet the community’s expectations to maintain legitimacy; thus, the community demands a COVID-19 pandemic response service in the context of the pandemic. Optimal COVID-19 handling services can then provide clear evidence of the presence of the village government to increase public trust (Broadbent, 2020). Christensen and Lægreid (2005) stated that people satisfied with the care they received from public health services and the employment and social services generally had higher levels of trust in government. In addition, Cho and Hu (2009) asserted that people’s positive response to the services provided by the government would foster their trust in the government itself. Based on the descriptions above, the researchers formulated the third hypothesis as follows: H 3 . The quality of COVID-19 handling services is positively associated with public trust. In the pandemic condition, the focus of the community may not be on the village government’s level of accountability and transparency in managing pandemic response funds but rather on the quality with which pandemic response services are carried out and provided to the affected village communities. Therefore, to gain public trust during a pandemic, the government cannot rely solely on strengthening aspects of governance. In this regard, optimal service represents one tangible form of fulfilling government performance responsibilities (Beeri et al., 2019), especially concerning COVID-19 handling services. Several studies have suggested that the better the quality of public service delivery, the greater people’s level of satisfaction with and trust in the government (Swindell & Kelly, 2000). Public satisfaction and trust thus become the benchmarks for evaluating the success of the policies and services provided by the government (Sun & Van Ryzin, 2014), especially during the COVID-19 pandemic. Beeri et al. (2019) discovered that community satisfaction as a reaction to the quality of services provided by the government mediated the relationship between government performance and public trust. Based on this, service quality may also act as an intervening variable in the relationship between accountability, transparency, and public trust. As such, two hypotheses were formulated as follows: Pratolo et al., Cogent Business & Management (2022), 9: 2110648 https://doi.org/10.1080/23311975.2022.2110648 Page 5 of 15 H 4 . Accountability for managing the COVID-19 budget is positively associated with public trust through the quality of COVID-19 handling services. H 5 . Transparency in managing the budget for handling COVID-19 is positively associated with public trust through the quality of COVID-19 handling services. Based on the preceding literature review, the research model of this study was put together, as shown in Figure 1. 3. Methodology 3.1. Data, population and sample The population in this study consisted of village governments in the Yogyakarta Special Region Province, Indonesia. Cluster sampling was used to select the samples, with the selection based on location, covering Bantul, Sleman, Kulon Progo and Gunung Kidul Regencies. Since this study employed Partial Least Squares-Structural Equation Modelling (PLS-SEM) as its analytical technique, the sample size was also conducted using the PLS approach. In PLS analysis, the minimum sample size is determined based on the “10-times rule” (Hair et al., 2014). Given that the quality of COVID-19 handling services was the latent variable with the highest number of indicators, at 6, the minimum sample size, according to Hair et al. (2014), should be 60 (6 x 10). The sample for this study comprised 116 village governments; therefore, this requirement was met. The respondents of this study were chosen based on the relevance of the parties completing the survey. As such, the respondents consisted of two groups that were divided based on the character of the variables. Village government officials completed the questionnaires based on the accountability and transparency variables in managing the COVID-19 response budget, while members of the Village Representative Council filled out the questionnaires containing the variables for the quality of COVID-19 handling services and public trust. This separation is also useful for mitigating CMB problems (Chang et al., 2010). Then, 440 questionnaires were distributed to 220 village governments, split equally between the two types of respondents: 220 questionnaires to the village government officials and 220 to members of the Village Representative Council. The questionnaires were then returned directly by the respondents from the 116 villages. A total of 232 questionnaires, or 116 pairs, were eventually used, which equated to 52.72% of the questionnaires distributed. 3.2. Variable measurement The research instrument was adopted from Beshi and Kaur (2020) and Nurrizkiana et al. (2017) to measure accountability, transparency and public trust in the village governments. Meanwhile, the instrument for the quality of COVID-19 handling services was adopted from Parasuraman et al. (1988). All measurement variables had previously been validated by related experts and pilot Figure 1. Research model. Pratolo et al., Cogent Business & Management (2022), 9: 2110648 https://doi.org/10.1080/23311975.2022.2110648 Page 6 of 15 tested. However, the related research was conducted in normal conditions (i.e., not during a pandemic). Hence, to adjust the instrument to the pandemic context as the purpose of this study, three inter-researchers focus group discussions were held. Then, a five-point Likert scale was used to measure the variables for all statements, with the responses ranging from 1 = “Strongly disagree” to 5 = “Strongly agree”. 3.3. Analysis technique This study used descriptive statistics and variant-based Partial Least Squares-Structural Equation Modelling (PLS-SEM) for the data analysis and hypothesis testing. The choice of PLS was motivated by the non-parametric nature of the Likert scale and to avoid multicollinearity (Akbar et al., 2012). PLS was also deemed appropriate for the current research as it requires only minimal data assumptions and relatively small sample size (Chin et al., 2003). Chin et al. (2003) also highlighted that using a theoretical basis that is not too strong favours PLS over Covariant-Based Structural Equation Modelling (CB-SEM). 4. Results and discussion 4.1. Sample and respondent demographics Table 1 shows the sample and demographic characteristics of the respondents based on their gender, position, and education level. 4.2. Bias test and descriptive statistics Due to the self-reported nature of survey research, there is a possibility of a normative bias called Common Method Bias (CMB). Hence, related bias testing by using Harman’s single factor was performed. According to Podsakoff and Organ (1986), the general bias method is problematic if one latent factor accounts for more than 50%. The test result showed that the highest latent factor accounted for only 43.34% of the variance. Therefore, test bias did not pose a serious threat to the results of this study. Table 2 presents the results of descriptive statistics. In general, the transparency of the village government regarding the funds’ management for handling COVID-19 was at a moderate level, as was the level of public trust. Meanwhile, accountability for funds management for handling COVID- 19 was at a high level. 4.3. Validity test The validity test was conducted using convergent and discriminant tests. In the first convergent validity test, several items did not meet the rule-of-thumb requirement for the loading score, namely Acc1, Acc3 and Acc5. The researchers, therefore, removed these items to enable retesting. AVE: Average Variance Extracted Table 3 reveals the second test results and confirms that the general requirements for convergent validity were met, as evidenced by scores greater than 0.5 on the loading factor and AVE (Hair et al., 2014). The discriminant validity test in this study was also concluded as valid. It was evidenced by the Fornell–Larcker analysis result (Tables 4), in which the root of the AVE score for each construct was higher than its correlation to other constructs (Fornell & Larcker, 1981). 4.4. Reliability test The reliability test results showed that Cronbach’s alpha scores were greater than 0.6, and composite reliability scores ranged from 0.817 to 0.963 or higher than 0.7. (Table 5). It also indicates that the measurer was reliable (Hair et al., 2014). Pratolo et al., Cogent Business & Management (2022), 9: 2110648 https://doi.org/10.1080/23311975.2022.2110648 Page 7 of 15 Presidential Regulation. (2021). Presidential Regulation Republic of Indonesia Number 104 of 2021 concerning details of the state revenue and expenditure budget for fiscal year 2022. Saraite-Sariene, L., Alonso-Cañadas, J., Galán-Valdivieso, F., & Caba-Pérez, C. (2019). 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