Government communication strategy in the digital era: accelerating Indonesian local government transformation

Abstract

The emergence of new digital technologies requires local governments to adopt strategic government communication to preserve public trust. Despite substantial IT investments, many local governments face a productivity paradox where technology adoption fails to deliver public value due to sectoral egos and the cultural resistance of civil servants. To address this problem, this paper investigated the influence of digital governance (external communications) and digital upskilling (internal communications) on the acceleration of digital transformation and technology adoption performance within Indonesian local governments. A quantitative explanatory methodology was employed, utilising primary data collected through structured questionnaires distributed to 102 key strategic leaders (e.g., Regional Secretaries and Heads of Communication and Informatics Offices) representing digitally mature local governments. The data were analysed using Partial Least Squares Structural Equation Modelling (PLS-SEM). The results reveal a statistical anomaly where dynamic digital technology capabilities exert a significant negative direct effect on technology adoption performance (β = -0.560, p = 0.001). However, this disruptive effect is successfully reversed through a serial mediation ‘golden pathway’: implementing external digital governance, followed by internal digital upskilling, and transformation acceleration, which yields a massive positive indirect effect on performance (β = 0.636, p = 0.002). Finally, external digital communication and technological infrastructure are of little value unless accompanied by the internal digital upskilling of civil servants. This indicates that to improve public trust, the organisation’s internal communication, governance, and technology must be orchestrated in greater synergy.