Digital Learning Competence and Learning Performance Among Chinese Higher Vocational College Students: A Dual-Path Moderated Mediation Model

Abstract

Digital transformation is reshaping technical and vocational education and training (TVET), yet the behavioral processes through which students’ digital learning competence is associated with learning performance remain underexplored. Drawing on Biggs’ presage–process–product (3P) model, this cross-sectional study examined a dual-path moderated mediation model in which active and rule-based learning participation served as differentiated process pathways, while teacher–student interaction and curriculum practicality were specified as contextual moderators. Survey data were collected from 3693 students in Chinese higher vocational colleges. Hierarchical regression and bootstrapped moderated mediation analyses indicated that digital learning competence was positively associated with learning performance. Active learning participation mediated this association, whereas rule-based learning participation did not function as a stable positive mediator. At higher levels of teacher–student interaction and curriculum practicality, digital learning competence showed stronger associations with active learning participation and stronger indirect associations with learning performance. The rule-based pathway appeared more conditional and reflected an externally regulated, prescribed-task-oriented form of behavioral participation, rather than a stable process pathway associated with deep learning. These findings extend the 3P model to digital learning in higher vocational education, differentiate behavioral forms of participation, and highlight the importance of interactive and practice-oriented instructional contexts.