Enhancing port operational performance through flexibility and organizational transformation: the mediating role of digital adoption

The rapid development of digital technologies has profoundly impacted port operations, driving digital transformation to maintain competitive advantage and operational resilience. However, the role of organizational capabilities such as flexibility and transformation in facilitating digital adoption and improving port operational performance remains underexplored. This study proposes and tests a structural model that examines how organizational flexibility and transformation influence digital adoption and port operational performance, with digital adoption serving as a mediator. This study is grounded in Dynamic Capabilities Theory, Technology-Organization-Environment Framework, and the Resource-Based View. The study employed PLS-SEM to analyze the data. The sample consisted of managerial respondents representing 103 container ports in Indonesia, with each response treated as a port-level observation. The results show that flexibility and organizational transformation positively influence digital adoption, but digital adoption does not significantly enhance port performance. The findings suggest that organizational flexibility positively and significantly influences digital adoption, whereas organizational transformation does not have a significant direct effect on digital adoption. Digital adoption positively and significantly enhances port operational performance. Furthermore, digital adoption significantly mediates the effects of organizational flexibility and organizational transformation on port operational performance. These findings highlight the importance of organizational flexibility and the effective adoption of digital technologies as key mechanisms for achieving measurable performance improvements in port operations.