Linking Competence and Green Budgeting to Sustainable Development via Governance in Indonesia

This study investigates the role of competence of officials and green budgeting orientation in enhancing sustainable development performance in Indonesian local governments, with good governance examined as a mediating variable. Grounded in the Resource-Based View and Institutional Theory, the research develops and tests a conceptual model that positions competence and green budgeting as organisational capabilities that must be institutionalised through governance to generate developmental outcomes. Data were collected through a survey of 216 officials from provincial and district/municipal governments across Java and Sulawesi, encompassing agencies responsible for financial management, planning, and oversight. Partial Least Squares Structural Equation Modelling (PLS-SEM) was applied to evaluate the measurement and structural models. The results reveal that both competence of officials and green budgeting orientation positively influence good governance and sustainable development performance. Good governance exerts the strongest effect on sustainable development outcomes and mediates the relationships between the independent variables and performance. These findings extend prior research by integrating human capacity and environmental fiscal practices into a governance–performance framework, thereby filling a gap in the literature, which has typically examined these dimensions in isolation. The study contributes theoretical insights by linking resources and institutional processes to sustainability outcomes, while also offering practical implications for policymakers seeking to strengthen local governance and accelerate progress towards the Sustainable Development Goals.