Online teaching self-efficacy of Chinese university teachers amidst Covid-19: its changes and the moderation of adaptability and administration quality

Teacher self-efficacy is among the most valued teacher motivational constructs. However, little is known about university teachers' self-efficacy and even less about changes to it throughout the Covid-19-related online teaching. This study applied a retrospective pre- and post-design to investigate changes in online teaching self-efficacy (OTSE) during Covid-19. Participants included 160 Chinese university teachers, who reported their OTSE before and after the COVID-19 lockdowns, adaptability and administration quality together with demographic information. The self-efficacy for online instruction failed to increase significantly over this period (beta=.21, p = .083), whereas that for online technology applications increased significantly (beta=.329, p < .01). Individual adaptability and administration quality significantly moderated the changes in OTSE. The implications and limitations of the study are discussed.