Keywords
financing risk
Islamic banking
operational efficiency
profitability
How to Cite
Abstract
This study analyzes the relationship between digitalization and the operational efficiency, profitability, and financing risk of Sharia commercial banks in Indonesia. Its novelty lies in the integrated analysis of BOPO, ROA, and NPF to identify an "efficiency-first" pattern without claiming mediation. The study employs an explanatory quantitative design based on panel data, covering 30 bank-year observations from six Sharia commercial banks over the 2021–2025 period, using fixed-effects estimation. Digitalization is proxied by the ratio of intangible assets to total assets. Based on conventional standard errors, digitalization is negatively associated with BOPO (p = 0.0070), positively but insignificantly associated with ROA (p = 0.0766), and positively associated with NPF (p = 0.0215). However, diagnostic and robustness tests—including leverage analysis, leave-one-bank-out analysis, and wild cluster bootstrapping with full enumeration across six clusters—reveal that the associations with BOPO and NPF do not persist after correcting for the very small number of clusters. These results are also largely driven by a single bank that exhibited extreme values in 2021. Consequently, the "efficiency-first" pattern serves as an initial exploratory signal rather than an established statistical association. Evaluations of digital investments need to integrate indicators regarding usage, efficiency, monetization, financing quality, and risk governance.
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