<![CDATA[This study examines the role of job satisfaction in mediating the influence of work environment and work motivation on employee performance at the Regional Police Office of West Sulawesi (Polda Sulbar) in Mamuju. Employee performance in this public bureaucracy has shown signs of being suboptimal, marked by low work discipline, delayed administrative completion, and declining motivation linked to monotonous routines, uncomfortable workspaces, and hierarchical working relationships. This research adopts a quantitative explanatory design using Structural Equation Modeling based on Partial Least Squares (SEM-PLS), which is well suited to models involving mediation and a relatively limited sample size. The population comprises all 67 employees of Polda Sulbar, and a saturated sampling technique (sensus) was used so that the entire population served as the sample. Primary data were collected through a closed Likert-scale (1-5) questionnaire, complemented by limited interviews and documentation, and analyzed descriptively as well as through the structural (inner) model in SmartPLS. The results show that work environment has a positive and significant effect on both job satisfaction and employee performance; work motivation has a positive and significant effect on job satisfaction but no significant direct effect on employee performance; and job satisfaction has a positive and significant effect on employee performance. Job satisfaction was also found to significantly mediate the effects of both work environment and work motivation on employee performance. The model explains 34.2% of the variance in job satisfaction and 53.1% of the variance in employee performance. These findings indicate that employee performance at Polda Sulbar is enhanced more effectively through improving job satisfaction than by strengthening work environment or motivation alone, and they offer a basis for practical recommendations to the organization, its employees, and future researchers.]]>
