Digital Competence and Academic Success: Empirical Evidence for Information Literacy Interventions in Vietnamese Higher Education

This study applied the quantitative method of PLS-SEM on a sample of 522 students, revealing that all proposed hypotheses achieved high statistical significance. The analytical results demonstrate that Digital Competence (DC) has a direct, positive, and strong influence on Academic Performance (AP), evidenced by significant path coefficients and clear empirical effect sizes. Furthermore, academic Self-Efficacy (SE) was found to play a statistically significant mediating role between DC and AP, suggesting that a majority of DC’s influence on AP is both direct and moderated through the increased self-belief and self-regulated learning capacity in learners. These findings support Bandura’s theoretical framework regarding the role of mastery experiences in shaping self-efficacy, while simultaneously highlighting the importance of developing digital skills as both a technical and psychological resource in the context of digitized education. The study also acknowledges methodological limitations, primarily the cross-sectional design, which restricts the ability to assert causal relationships over time, and the limited generalizability due to the concentrated sample. Consequently, future research is recommended to deploy a longitudinal design and mixed methods to enhance causal persuasiveness and deepen the understanding of the underlying mediating mechanisms.