Digitalization and Perceived Financial Efficiency in Rural Banks: Evidence from Employees of PT BPR Dana Raya, North Sulawesi

Stevie Alan Lasut

Abstract


Digital acceleration is a policy pillar for Indonesia's rural banks (Bank Perekonomian Rakyat, BPR), while new IT governance requirements add fixed costs to very small institutions. This study tests whether the digitalization employees experience in their work is associated with their assessment of the bank's financial efficiency. A cross-sectional survey of 40 permanent employees of PT BPR Dana Raya, Manado, was conducted in June–July 2026 and analysed with OLS regression. Both scales were reliable (α = 0.891 and 0.876). Digitalization was positively associated with perceived financial efficiency (B = 0.684; β = 0.688; t = 5.842; p < 0.001), explaining 47.3% of its variance. Because all respondents work in one bank, the variation analysed reflects differences in employees' experience of digital systems, not differences in digitalization between banks. The estimate cannot be read as a causal effect on the cost-to-income ratio (BOPO), and single-source measurement and item-wording overlap are likely to inflate it.


Keywords


digitalization; financial efficiency; rural banks; IT business value; Indonesia

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References


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DOI: https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.23984373

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