Bridging the digital divide: The effect of digital literacy and technology adaptation in Ghana’s police service for enhancing crime performance and law enforcement effectiveness.

This study investigates the interrelationships among technology adoption in law enforcement (TALE), digital literacy (DL), and crime performance (CP) within the Ghana Police Service, hypothesising that DL moderates the effect of TALE on CP. This study used a quantitative cross-sectional design, and data were collected from a sample of 380 police officers using a structured questionnaire. The relationships were analysed using structural equation modelling (SEM) to test the direct and moderating effects of the variables. The results indicated that TALE had a significant positive effect on both DL and CP. Furthermore, DL had a significant positive effect on CP. Crucially, DL was a significant partial moderator of the relationship between TALE and CP. This study provides novel empirical evidence demonstrating the moderating role of digital literacy, suggesting that its presence is critical for technology adoption to effectively translate into improved crime performance, thereby offering a more nuanced understanding of this dynamic. The findings recommend a dual-pronged policy approach for the Ghana Police Service, focusing on both technological investment and parallel sustained digital literacy training to maximise crime-fighting effectiveness. Future studies should explore this relationship using a longitudinal design and investigate the moderating effects of organizational culture and leadership support. Keywords. Digital literacy, Technology adoption, Crime performance, Ghana police service, Law enforcement. JEL. A11; M10, M03.