School support, perceived value and teachers' digital training adaptability: A multilevel moderated mediation model

Digital training has significantly transformed the landscape of teacher professional development, introducing various uncertainties. In this context, adaptability can play a crucial role in helping teachers cope with stress and effectively navigate new and changing scenarios. However, existing research on adaptability has not adequately addressed the specific challenges and opportunities presented by digital training, nor has it thoroughly explored the interplay between external factors and individual characteristics. Therefore, this study is based on job demands-resources (JD-R) theory to explore the school-level (school support) and individual-level (perceived value) predictors that influence teachers' digital training adaptability (DTA) and their mechanisms of action through hierarchical linear model. To this end, a questionnaire was administered to 552 teachers from 55 schools who had participated in digital training. The results of multilevel regression analyses show that (1) emotional support and cognitive support have a significant positive effect on teachers' DTA; (2) perceived value plays a mediating role in the relationship among emotional support, cognitive support, and teachers' DTA; and (3) emotional support weakens the relationship between perceived value and teachers' DTA, but cognitive support enhances this relationship. The study discusses these results further to propose feasible recommendations for building a community that improves the support system and adopts evidence-based policy-making to enhance the effectiveness and relevance of training, thereby improving teachers' DTA.