Driving Police Service Performance through Digital Competence and Organizational Adaptability: The Mediating Role of Work Innovation in Police Clearance Services

Abstract

Digital transformation in police administration requires personnel capabilities and organizational responsiveness to be converted into reliable service performance. This study examines the effects of digital competence and organizational adaptability on police personnel performance and tests work innovation as a mediating mechanism in Police Clearance Certificate (SKCK) services. An explanatory quantitative design was applied to all 64 police personnel directly involved in SKCK services at the Southeast Sulawesi Regional Police and subordinate resort police units using saturated sampling. Data were analyzed with Partial Least Squares Structural Equation Modeling (PLS-SEM). Digital competence had a positive significant direct effect on personnel performance (β = 0.224, p = 0.002) but did not significantly affect work innovation (β = 0.131, p = 0.281). Organizational adaptability strongly affected work innovation (β = 0.793, p < 0.001) and directly affected performance (β = 0.333, p = 0.007). Work innovation positively affected performance (β = 0.450, p < 0.001). The indirect effect of digital competence through work innovation was not significant (β = 0.059, p = 0.329), whereas the indirect effect of organizational adaptability was significant (β = 0.357, p < 0.001). The findings reveal two distinct performance mechanisms: digital competence primarily operates as an enabling capability for direct task effectiveness, while organizational adaptability is translated into performance through work innovation. The study extends digital transformation and dynamic capability arguments to a hierarchical, regulation-intensive police service context and highlights organizational adaptability as a critical condition for converting change capacity into innovative service practices.