The Mediating Role of Counsellor Competency in Technology-Driven Counselling Innovation: A Quantitative Framework for Chinese Private Higher Education

HRMARS - The rapid expansion of private higher education institutions (PHEIs) in Shaanxi Province, China, has created an urgent need for technology-driven counselling innovation to address increasingly diverse student development needs. However, a critical gap persists in the literature: while technology adoption is accelerating, the mechanism through which innovation strategies translate into improved student outcomes remains underexplored. Specifically, the mediating role of counsellor competency has been conceptually proposed but rarely empirically tested. This study addresses this gap by examining the mediating effect of counsellor competency on the relationship between technology-driven counselling innovation strategies and student development needs. Grounded in Technology Integration Theory (Davis, 1989; Venkatesh et al., 2003) and Counsellor Competency Theory (Boyatzis, 1982; Spencer & Spencer, 1993), this quantitative correlational study was conducted across eight representative private universities in Xi'an, Shaanxi Province, China. The target population consisted of 1,200 administrators and counsellors, from which a sample of 200 respondents was determined using Krejcie and Morgan's (1970) table and selected via stratified random sampling. A validated 51-item questionnaire measuring innovation strategies (20 items), counsellor competency (15 items), and student development needs (11 items) was administered, demonstrating high reliability (Cronbach's ? = 0.87, 0.85, and 0.89 respectively). Data were analyzed using descriptive statistics, Pearson correlation, regression analysis, and mediation analysis via PROCESS Macro (Model 4) with 5,000 bootstrap samples. The results reveal that technology-driven counselling innovation strategies have a significant direct effect on counsellor competency (? = 0.58, p < .001) and on student development needs (? = 0.61, p < .001). Critically, counsellor competency partially mediates this relationship, with the indirect effect accounting for 40% of the total effect (indirect effect = 0.21, 95% CI [0.14, 0.29]). These findings confirm that counsellor competency is not merely an outcome of innovation but a key mechanism through which institutional strategies enhance student development. Future studies should employ longitudinal designs to establish causality and conduct cross-provincial comparisons to test the generalizability of the mediation model across different regional contexts in China.