Perfomance measurement of Malaysian Zakat Institutions : Preceptions of the senior managers of the Malaysian Zakat Institutions

Abstract

The government initiatives through various public sector reforms all over the world have resulted to a new notion of accountability. The notion of accountability, which formerly focused on fiduciary stewardship and compliance with laws, has been extended towards external stakeholders. In order to achieve this new notion of accountability, perfomance measurement has been employed. Thus, perfomance measurement has played an important role in demonstrating an internal as well as an external accountability. Despite this important role, there are relatively few research studies that analyze the implementation of perfomance measurement in religious organization. In view of this point plus very minimal studies of perfomance measurement in the Malaysian public sector organizations, this study then aims at analyzing the implementation of perfomance measurement in the Malaysian Zakat institutions. Further, the study explores the nature and extent of the perfomance measures being used by the said institutions. Using a self-designed questionnaire, a sample of 42 senior managers working in Zakat institutions through out Malaysia is obtained. The results indicate that perfomance measurement is perceived to be important in Malaysian Zakat institutions but it is relatively lesser importance in terms of reporting it to the public than its importance in the institution itself. Also, the nature of perfomance measures being used focused too heavily on means, i.e. how much is spent (input) or what has been done (output), rather than the end results such as an organizational perfomance as a whole (efficiency) or its impact on society (outcome). Thus, these results suggest that the notion of accountability prevails in Malaysian Zakat institutions focus more on accountability for probity, legality and process rather than accountability for perfomance and policy.