Integrated Digital-Flexible Work Performance Model: Evidence from Indonesia’s Port Industry

The maritime sector plays a pivotal role in global trade, yet Indonesian ports face infrastructure gaps, high logistics costs, and workforce adaptability challenges, making the alignment of digital transformation with flexible work arrangements crucial for improving employee performance and operational resilience. This study investigates the effects of work flexibility and digitalization on employee performance in Indonesia’s port industry by examining the mediating roles of work engagement, job satisfaction, and work–life balance, as well as the moderating roles of technology readiness, organizational culture, and leadership style. A quantitative, cross-sectional survey was conducted with 671 employees from five major Indonesian ports, and data were analyzed using Covariance-Based Structural Equation Modeling (CB-SEM) via AMOS to test direct, indirect (mediation), and interaction (moderation) effects. Results indicate that work flexibility and digitalization significantly and positively influence employee performance both directly and indirectly through psychological well-being factors, with work engagement emerging as the strongest mediator, while technology readiness and transformational leadership strengthened these relationships; job characteristics and most organizational culture moderation effects were not significant. These findings demonstrate that integrating flexible work practices with digital technologies yields greater performance improvements than implementing each factor in isolation, offering theoretical contributions to workforce management literature and practical guidance for port authorities to design human–technology strategies that enhance operational efficiency and support employee well-being.