Employee Behavior, HR Practices, and the Risk of Asset Mismanagement: An Organizational Culture Perspective

Asset mismanagement continues to undermine institutional performance across both public and private organizations, resulting in significant financial losses, inefficiencies, and reputational harm.While previous research often emphasizes technical solutions such as enterprise systems and audit mechanisms, this paper argues that employee behavior and human resource (HR) practices, mediated by organizational culture, are central determinants of asset governance outcomes.Drawing upon global evidence, the paper highlights how weak HR systems, inadequate ethical training, and dysfunctional workplace cultures create environments conducive to fraud, negligence, and underutilization of resources.The proposed conceptual framework links employee behavior and HR practices to asset mismanagement risks through the mediating influence of organizational culture.By situating the analysis within governance, organizational behavior, and sustainability literatures, this paper advances a holistic perspective and outlines implications for theory, policy, and practice.