Evaluating Efficiency of Waqf Institutions: An Intermediation Approach Using Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA)

Abstract

Waqf is a voluntary charity that cannot be disposed of and the ownership cannot be transferred once it is declared as waqf assets. Waqf institutions play an important role in helping the development of Muslims ummah through wealth distribution. State Islamic Religious Councils (SIRCs) in Malaysia are the sole trustee that manage and develop waqf assets. Based on selected input and output, the intermediary approach assumes that cash waqf received as output while total expenditure of SIRCs as input. Under this approach SIRCs act as intermediary between waqif (giver) and beneficiaries. Thus, this paper attempts to analyze the efficiency of waqf institutions in Malaysia by using Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA) method under output-orientation using Variable Return to Scale (VRS) assumptions. Four SIRCs were selected as decision making units (DMU) for the period of 2011 to 2015. The result indicates that changes in average technical efficiency for every year is contributed by both pure technical and scale. However, inefficiency of Malaysian waqf institutions is mostly contributed by pure technical efficiency aspects rather than scale. 2012 showed the highest average technical efficiency with 73.9% as most of the institutions operated in optimum level of input to produce output. Thus, the result suggests that both technical and scale efficiency should be improved to achieve the most efficient and productive level of performance in order to fulfill objectives of the institutions as an intermediary between waqif and beneficiaries.