Undergraduate Students’ Self-Efficacy and Attitudes toward Technology as Predictors of Academic Achievement

Abstract

The rapid integration of digital technologies in the sphere of higher education has had an essential influence on the process of teaching and learning and imposed new psychological and cognitive requirements on students of universities. Even with the increasing technical infrastructure on the ground, student academic performance is increasingly reliant on internal factors, including their dispositions towards technology use and their self-beliefs on their capability to study. The proposed research aims at exploring the extent to which academic self-efficacy and technology attitudes of undergraduate students have a bearing on academic achievement at the University of Lahore, Pakistan. It is founded on the Self-Efficacy Theory developed by Bandura and Technology Acceptance Model (TAM). Quantitative correlational study was used to collect data on 404 undergraduate students in six academic departments using validated self-report questionnaires. The evaluation of academic success based on cumulative grade point average (CGPA) was used to assess academic performance of students. The multiple regression analysis, independent-samples t-tests, descriptive statistics and Pearson correlation were performed in SPSS (Version 27). Findings showed academic self-efficacy and technology attitudes explained 52% variance in academic attainment. Self-efficacy was the strongest predictor, while females showed higher self-efficacy and more favorable technology attitudes.. The results support the paramount importance of the psychological preparation in the technology-enhanced learning space and emphasize the urgency of the institutional intervention increasing student confidence levels and engagement rates with digital technologies. The present research, policy and practice implications on higher education are discussed.