Effect of interactive immediacy on online learning satisfaction of international students in Chinese universities: The chain mediating role of learning interest and academic engagement

The aim of this study was to investigate the effect of interactive immediacy on online learning satisfaction, and the mediating effect of learning interest and academic engagement on the relationship between interactive immediacy and online learning satisfaction. 2221 international students in Chinese universities participated in the questionnaire survey. The coefficient omega (omega) and the confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) were used to test the reliability and validity. Structural equation modeling (SEM) was used to analyze interactive immediacy, learning interest, and academic engagement on online learning satisfaction of international students in Chinese universities, as well as the mediating effect of learning interest and academic engagement. The results showed that interactive immediacy did not directly influence the online learning satisfaction of international students in Chinese universities. Learning interest and academic engagement played a complete mediating role between interactive immediacy and online learning satisfaction. Meanwhile, interactive immediacy not only affected online learning satisfaction of international students in Chinese universities through learning interest and academic engagement respectively, but also indirectly affected online learning satisfaction through the chain mediating effect of learning interest and academic engagement. The results of Bootstrap showed that the mediating effects in the model were significant. The findings of this study explored the underlying mechanism of international students' online learning satisfaction in Chinese universities, which provided an empirical basis for universities and teachers to improve the effect of online teaching, and integrate online teaching and traditional classroom teaching.