Building Human Capital Readiness in Military Territorial Units for National Food Security: The Roles of Servant Leadership, Service Innovation, and Learning Agility

Abstract

This study examines how servant leadership, service innovation, and learning agility shape Human Capital Readiness (HCR) in Indonesian military territorial units supporting the national food-security program. An explanatory survey was conducted among 204 District Military Commanders representing 21 Regional Military Commands. The model was assessed using partial least squares structural equation modeling (PLS-SEM). All 18 negatively worded HCR items were reverse-coded before analysis (new score = 6 − original score), ensuring that higher scores represented stronger readiness. Servant leadership had a positive effect on HCR (β = 0.440, t = 5.684, p < 0.001), as did learning agility (β = 0.286, t = 3.482, p = 0.001). Service innovation, however, had no significant effect (β = 0.106, t = 1.466, p = 0.143). The model explained 48.5% of HCR variance and demonstrated predictive relevance (Q² = 0.289). The findings indicate that, within hierarchical military organizations, human-capital readiness is developed primarily through empowering leadership and the capacity to convert field experience into adaptive learning. Service innovation contributes to readiness only when institutionalized through training, standardization, knowledge transfer, and after-action evaluation. This study extends HCR scholarship to military territorial units and provides empirical guidance for leadership development and organizational learning in public-service missions.