The research highlights practical drivers of public sector performance at a time when Indonesia continues to face challenges in administrative quality. According to the 2024 Blavatnik Index of Public Administration released by the Blavatnik School of Government at the University of Oxford, Indonesia ranks 38th out of 120 countries with a score of 0.61. The gap with Singapore, which leads the ranking with a score of 0.85, underscores the need for sustained bureaucratic reform.
At the local level, performance indicators at Sleman’s DPMPTSP show similar concerns. Budget realization has declined for three consecutive years. In 2021, realization reached 93.88 percent. It fell to 92.90 percent in 2022 and declined again to 90.98 percent in 2023. Lower budget absorption suggests that organizational performance has not yet reached optimal levels.
Examining What Truly Drives Performance
Virawan and Sutirman surveyed 82 employees at Sleman DPMPTSP using structured questionnaires and analyzed the data with Structural Equation Modeling (SEM-PLS). The study tested three key factors:
- Work competence
- Availability of facilities
- Supervision
The results are clear and data-driven.
Key findings include:
- Work competence → employee performance: positive and significant (coefficient 0.706; p-value 0.000).
- Facility availability → employee performance: positive and significant (coefficient 0.327; p-value 0.005).
- Supervision → work competence: positive and significant.
- Supervision → facility availability: positive and significant.
- Supervision → employee performance: negative and not significant.
- Supervision as a moderating variable: not significant in strengthening the effects of competence or facilities on performance.
The model explains 74.6 percent of the variation in employee performance (R-Square = 0.746), indicating strong explanatory power.
Competence Emerges as the Strongest Factor
Work competence proved to be the most influential variable. Employees with stronger knowledge, technical skills, communication abilities, adaptability, teamwork capacity, and ethical integrity consistently showed higher performance levels.
Nanang Virawan of Universitas Negeri Yogyakarta notes that performance improves when employees possess both technical and behavioral competencies. Higher competence translates directly into better quality and quantity of output.
The study defines competence across five dimensions:
- Self-competence
- Team competence
- Change competence
- Communication competence
- Ethical competence
This comprehensive approach reflects modern public management standards, where adaptability and integrity are as important as technical skills.
Facilities Matter More Than Often Assumed
The availability and condition of workplace facilities also significantly affect performance. The study measures facilities through four indicators:
- Availability of work tools and infrastructure
- Physical condition of facilities
- Safety of equipment
- Effective use of resources
Employees working with adequate and well-maintained infrastructure tend to complete tasks more efficiently and deliver better public service outcomes. The findings reinforce the idea that infrastructure investment is not merely administrative spending but a strategic performance driver.
Supervision: Necessary but Not Sufficient
One of the most notable findings is that supervision does not directly improve employee performance. The coefficient for supervision’s direct effect on performance was negative (-0.164) and statistically insignificant.
This suggests that stricter oversight does not automatically translate into better results. In some contexts, excessive or mismatched supervision may even hinder productivity.
However, supervision still plays an indirect role. The study shows that effective supervision enhances employee competence and improves facility management. In other words, supervision works best as a developmental and system-strengthening mechanism rather than as a control tool alone.
The research also tested supervision as a moderating variable—an approach rarely explored in Indonesian public management studies. The results indicate that supervision does not significantly strengthen the relationship between competence and performance, nor between facilities and performance.
Implications for Public Sector Reform
The findings offer practical guidance for policymakers and public managers:
- Prioritize competence development. Continuous training, merit-based promotion, and structured capacity building are essential.
- Invest strategically in facilities. Infrastructure quality directly impacts service performance.
- Reevaluate supervisory styles. Oversight should align with employee maturity and competence levels rather than rely on uniform control mechanisms.
For Sleman DPMPTSP, the researchers recommend conducting an internal evaluation of supervisory practices to ensure alignment with employee capacity and organizational goals.
Beyond Sleman, the study contributes to broader discussions on bureaucratic reform in Indonesia. It provides empirical evidence that human capital and infrastructure are more decisive performance drivers than hierarchical supervision alone.
Author Profiles
Nanang Virawan, S.E., is a Master’s student in Management at Universitas Negeri Yogyakarta, specializing in human resource management and public sector performance.
Dr. Sutirman, S.Pd., M.Pd. is a lecturer at Universitas Negeri Yogyakarta with expertise in organizational development and management studies.
Source
This article is based on the study titled “The Effect of Work Competence and Availability of Facilities on Employee Performance with Supervision as a Moderating Variable at the Sleman Regency DPMPTSP”, published in the Indonesian Journal of Advanced Research (IJAR), Vol. 5, No. 2, 2026, pp. 221–232.
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