Facilities management competencies model for mosque administrator

Abstract

The function of a mosque as a community centre has become an aspiration for the Muslim community nowadays, just as it was during the golden era of Islam. However, Muslim scholars and researchers have raised their concern that the function of the mosque is shrinking as it has only been considered as a place of worship. One of the main issues highlighted by researchers was that the mosque administrators lack the knowledge and skill in managing the mosque’s activities and facilities. Hence, this research aimed to develop a facilities management (FM) competencies model for mosque administrators that has the potential to optimise the functions of the mosque. Three objectives were formulated, namely, to identify the FM competencies for mosque administrators; to examine the relationship between FM competencies for mosque administrators, and to develop the FM competencies model for mosque administrators. To achieve these objectives, the research deduction approach and quantitative methods were used to fit the Structural Equation Modeling (SEM) analysis. A conceptual model of FM competencies for mosque administrators was established with seven exogenous constructs, which were understanding business organisation; managing human resources; managing premises; managing services; managing work environment; managing resources, and operation and maintenance. Meanwhile, leadership and management competency was the mediator construct; and optimizing the function of the mosque was the endogenous construct. Accordingly, 22 hypotheses were presented. The respondents for this study were mosque administrators; FM practitioners; and mosque users. A total of 284 usable questionnaires were analysed and the model was tested with pooled Confirmatory Factor Analysis and SEM. The results revealed that the critical FM competencies for mosque administrators were leadership and management, operation and maintenance, managing the work environment, and managing services. These elements formed the direct effect of the FM competencies model for the mosque administrator. Meanwhile, leadership and management competency was found to mediate the understanding of the business organisation, managing premises, and managing resources competencies in optimising the mosque’s function as a community centre. The findings contributed significantly to the development of FM competencies for mosque administrators and eventually ensured an effective, efficient, and prosperous administration of the mosque as a community centre.