The Impact of Strategic Planning and Training Strategy on Job Performance of Palestinian Police Officers: Soft Skills as a Mediating Variable

This study aims to examine strategic planning and training strategy on job performance among Palestinian police officers through soft skills as mediator. The research design was the cross-sectional quantitative approach. The research population was Palestinian police officers of both genders in the West Bank, with a total of 642 officers. The research sample was 244 officers determined using Krejcie and Morgan’s (1970) sampling table. Sample selection was based on the stratified simple random sampling technique. Data collection was carried out through distributed self-reported questionnaires comprising of 69 indicators as measures of the research variables. The study used the IBM Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS) v. 26 software for descriptive and demographic analysis as well as for data cleaning and filtering. The Structural Equation Modelling (SEM) approach was then applied using SMART PLS to test the research hypotheses. The research results showed statistically significant positive effects of strategic planning (β = 0.400, t = 6.163, p < 0.01), training strategy (β = 0.318, t = 4.86, p < 0.01), and soft skills (β = 0.287, t = 3.34, p < 0.05) on job performance. Additionally, the research findings revealed that soft skills significantly mediated the relationships between strategic planning and job performance β = 0.287, t > 1.645, p < 0.001) and training strategy and job performance (β = 0.081, t > 1.645, p < 0.05). The findings of this study suggest that improving and strengthening the soft skills element can influence strategic planning and training strategies with regards to the job performance of police officers in Palestine. The theoretical implications of this study also contribute towards the construction of a new model to improve job performance by means of increasing awareness towards strategic planning and training strategy, in addition to soft skills. Finally, the practical implications of this study have significant influence for the decision-making of top management of the Palestinian Police Force, with the fundamental objective of decreasing crime and ensure public safety and social structure.