Examining the Mediating Role of Artificial Intelligence Usage in the Relationship Between Digital Competencies and Academic Performance Among Higher Education Students
Year: 2026
Type: preprint
Study design: Observational Study
Abstract: Higher education systems across the Arab world are accelerating digital transformation while generative AI tools are rapidly entering students’ learning practices. This study examines how university students’ digital competencies relate to academic achievement and whether artificial intelligence usage functions as a mediating mechanism, while also exploring whether these relationships vary across regional contexts. A quantitative, cross-sectional design was employed using an online questionnaire. Data were collected electronically from Arab undergraduate and graduate students across three regional clusters (Levant, Gulf, North Africa). Structural relationships were tested using PLS-SEM with multi-group analysis.The structural model supported all hypothesised relationships. Digital skills emerged as the primary driver, positively influencing both students’ engagement with AI tools and their academic achievement. AI usage also contributed directly to academic achievement and operated as a partial mediator. Multi-group analysis showed that the overall pattern was consistent across the Levant, Gulf and North Africa; however, the strength of the relationship between digital skills and AI usage differed significantly by region, suggesting that contextual conditions shape how readily digital competence translates into AI engagement, while the remaining relationships were broadly stable. For educational leaders and policymakers, the findings highlight the need to strengthen students’ digital competencies alongside structured AI literacy, and to address regional disparities through differentiated institutional supports, infrastructure investment, and pedagogical capacity-building that embed AI into learning ecosystems. The study contributes novel evidence from Arab higher education by testing AI usage as a mediator between digital competencies and academic achievement using a multidimensional achievement conceptualization and a multi-group comparative lens across distinct regional contexts.
Source: Research Square
Institution: Palestine Ahliya University
Language: English
Subfield: Education
Field: Social Sciences
Domain: Social Sciences
SDG: Quality education
Open Access status: green
OpenAlex ID: W7214799494