Students’ digital citizenship in ubiquitous technology: A comprehensive model based on DC-REP framework, internet attitudes, computer self-efficacy, and internet skills

The pervasive presence of the internet in educational environments presents a multiplicity of challenges, particularly in fostering students’ responsible and ethical digital citizenship. While existing research investigates digital citizenship, few studies have examined internet skills and computer self-efficacy as mediating factors between students’ internet attitudes and their digital citizenship levels. This study proposes a novel conceptual model, the DC-REP model, rooted in the Respect, Educate, and Protect (REP) framework. The model assesses students’ digital citizenship, focusing on their internet attitudes, mediated by both computer self-efficacy and internet skills. Employing a diverse sample of 581 students from secondary schools across Central Java, Indonesia, and utilizing Partial Least Square Structural Equation Modeling (PLS-SEM) with a reflective embedded two-stage approach, the study reveals the robustness and favorable fit of the DC-REP model, exhibiting moderate predictive power. Notably, the intricate relationships between students’ internet attitudes, digital citizenship levels, and the mediating influences of computer self-efficacy and internet skills are elucidated. The findings highlight that positive internet attitudes and skills significantly contribute to students’ digital citizenship, emphasizing the critical need to strengthen their capacity to safeguard personal data in the face of burgeoning internet use. This underscores the imperative for educational institutions to prioritize awareness and training initiatives that cultivate responsible digital citizenship and address potential vulnerabilities among students. The DC-REP model helps educational policymakers underscore the imperative for educational institutions to prioritize awareness and training initiatives that cultivate responsible digital citizenship, along with internet skills and computer efficacy education, to address potential vulnerabilities among students.