Organizational Culture Influencing Teachers’ Digital Competence in Higher Vocational Colleges

Abstract

Despite sustained policy attention and infrastructural investment, the organisational and psychological mechanisms underpinning teachers’ digital competence development remain insufficiently theorised. This study examines how organisational context and individual psychological factors jointly shape teachers’ digital competence in higher vocational colleges (HVC). Survey data were collected from 409 teachers across five institutions and analysed using structural equation modelling (SEM) and bias-corrected bootstrapping procedures. The findings indicate that organisational culture, perceived organisational support, digital training opportunities, and teacher self-efficacy each exert significant positive effects on teachers’ digital competence. Teacher self-efficacy functions as a partial mediator, transmitting the effects of organisational culture, perceived organisational support, and digital training opportunities to digital competence. Moreover, the results reveal significant sequential mediation pathways, demonstrating a cumulative transmission process whereby organisational culture influences perceived organisational support and digital training opportunities, which subsequently enhance teacher self-efficacy and digital competence. By conceptualising teachers’ digital competence as an organisationally embedded and psychologically mediated capability, this study advances theoretical understanding of competence development and provides empirically grounded insights for digital transformation in higher vocational education.