Between bytes, being, and the bridging of boundaries: the human dimension of policy capacity in rural Indonesia’s digital public service delivery

Notwithstanding that digital transformation has been mandated at local government levels in developing nations, too little is understood about how policy capacity shapes implementation outcomes in rural contexts, undermining policy effectiveness. This qualitative study examines how policy capacity – encompassing institutional, operational, and social dimensions – shapes the implementation of mandated e-governance in rural Indonesian village administration. Drawing on 23 semi-structured interviews with government officials and citizens across five high-performing villages in Banyuwangi Regency, East Java, this paper contextualises current debates with the lived experiences of those mediating digital transformation. Our analysis brings out how policy capacity manifests through three interconnected dimensions: institutional frameworks, implementation approaches, and social integration mechanisms. The findings make clear a multidimensional understanding where institutional resilience, implementation adaptability, and social embeddedness reciprocally determine villages’ ability to sustainably transform public service delivery. We challenge prevailing orthodoxies that privilege technocratic solutions, arguing instead how sustainable e-governance grows from blending institutional stability, adaptive implementation, and authentic community participation.