Comparison of Village and Urban Ward Governance Performance in Tangerang Regency, Banten Province

Abstract

Institutional differences between rural villages and urban villages may generate distinct governance strengths, although their implications for overall performance remain unclear. This study compares multidimensional governance performance between 28 rural villages selected through simple random sampling and all 28 urban villages in Tangerang regency, Indonesia. Administrative data covering 16 indicators across six governance dimensions were analyzed using Welch’s independent-samples t test, with Mann–Whitney U and permutation tests as robustness checks. Urban villages performed significantly better in accountability (t = 3.887, p < .001, d = 1.04), efficiency (t = 2.195, p = .033, d = 0.59), and institutional capacity (t = 2.424, p = .019, d = 0.65), whereas rural villages achieved higher participation (t = −3.528, p = .001, d = −0.94). No significant differences emerged in effectiveness, transparency, the governance performance index (t = 1.464, p = .150), or the total indicator score (t = 1.436, p = .157). These findings indicate that institutional design is associated with dimension-specific capabilities rather than with overall performance superiority. Reform in Tangerang regency may therefore be better targeted by dimension than through uniform aggregate targets—strengthening administrative accountability, resource efficiency, and institutional capacity in rural villages while expanding substantive citizen participation in urban villages.