Digital Skills, Training, and Leadership for Human Resource Performance: The Moderating Mechanism of Digital Readiness

Abstract

This study examines the effects of digital skills, digital training, and digital leadership on human resource performance and investigates the moderating role of digital readiness in higher education institutions. The study used a quantitative approach and survey data from 535 lecturers and administrative staff members. The data were analyzed using Partial Least Squares Structural Equation Modeling (PLS-SEM). The findings indicate that digital skills, digital training, and digital leadership significantly and positively affect human resource performance. The results further show that digital readiness significantly strengthens the relationships between digital training and human resource performance, as well as between digital leadership and human resource performance. Still, it does not significantly moderate the relationship between digital skills and human resource performance. The structural model exhibits substantial explanatory power () and strong predictive relevance (). This study contributes to the literature by demonstrating that digital readiness acts as a critical boundary condition for external organizational interventions—such as training and leadership—while internalized digital skills operate directly on performance. Practically, these findings emphasize that higher education institutions must strengthen employee digital readiness to maximize returns from digital training programs and leadership practices.