Decentralization is often justified on the grounds that local governments are closer to citizens and therefore better able to respond to local needs. Yet, much of the existing literature has approached decentralization mainly in terms of administrative performance and service delivery, leaving its implications for community development less clearly understood. This study revisits the issue by bringing together empirical findings from a wide range of contexts. Rather than asking whether decentralization performs better than centralization in general terms, attention is directed to the conditions under which it makes a difference at the community level. The evidence points to a pattern that is far from uniform. Where local authorities operate with sufficient resources, administrative competence, and room for decision-making, decentralization tends to support more responsive and locally grounded forms of service provision. In contrast, where these conditions are weak, especially in smaller or under-resourced jurisdictions, similar arrangements often produce uneven access, limited participation, and fragile outcomes. Taken together, the findings suggest that decentralization cannot be treated as a universally beneficial reform. Its contribution depends on how responsibilities are matched with local capacity, how different scales of governance are organized, and whether institutional arrangements allow communities to exercise meaningful influence over local affairs.
This study examines how internal organizational arrangements shape the way financial institutions respond to broader community needs. The analysis focuses on Islamic banking in Indonesia and considers whether strategic performance measurement systems (SPMS) are associated with the development of more community-centered service practices, as well as the role of organizational learning (OL) in this relationship. The empirical evidence is based on a survey of 142 middle managers from Islamic commercial banks and is analyzed using a partial least squares approach. The results suggest that SPMS are positively associated with both OL and community-centered service strategy (CCSS). More importantly, this relationship appears to operate largely through learning processes, indicating that the influence of formal systems depends on how organizations interpret and make use of performance-related information in practice. This study does not treat service strategy purely in market terms, but instead considers Islamic banks as institutions embedded within broader social and economic contexts. From this perspective, CCSS reflects the ability of banks to respond to issues such as access, service relevance, and trust in local financial systems. The findings point to the importance of internal alignment and learning in supporting this form of responsiveness. The analysis does not directly measure community-level outcomes, and the results should therefore be interpreted as evidence of organizational capacity rather than realized development impact. Nevertheless, this study provides a useful link between management systems and the broader question of how financial institutions may support community-centered development processes.
This study examines learner satisfaction within digital learning environments by situating EdTech Platforms as emerging community-based learning systems. Drawing on the DeLone and McLean Information Systems Success Model (IS Success Model), the research investigates the effects of information quality, service quality, and system quality on learner satisfaction, while incorporating teacher’s role as a moderating factor. Primary data were collected from 473 school students engaged in EdTech Platforms. The findings confirm that all three quality dimensions significantly influence learner satisfaction. Moreover, teacher’s role is signficant in shaping these relationships: It strengthens the effects of information quality and service quality, while reducing the relative impact of system quality. These results suggest that digital learning outcomes are not determined solely by technological features, but are co-produced through interactions between platform characteristics and human support. By interpreting EdTech Platforms as community-oriented learning environments, the study highlights how teacher involvement contributes to the development of supportive, interactive, and adaptive learning communities. The findings offer implications for the design and governance of digital education systems, particularly in contexts where equitable access, engagement, and collective learning experiences are central to community development.
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