Bridging theoretical gaps to improve students’ academic success in higher education in the digital era: A systematic literature review

Academic success is the main goal of higher education systems because it is closely associated with later personal and professional success. This study sought to identify the current theoretical gaps in academic success between the foundational academic success theories: Tinto’s institutional departure theory, Bean’s students’ attrition model, Austin’s involvement theory, and self-determination theory, and the emerging academic success frameworks focused on technological integration in higher education. We employed a systematic review methodology to synthesize the findings from 21 empirical studies on current practices to identify academic success theoretical gaps. We used keywords to search three databases: ScienceDirect, Scopus, and Web of Science, to identify relevant studies. The analysis found that the 21 empirical studies did not generally reference the foundational academic success theories, but employed theoretical frameworks tailored to their specific purposes to examine their dynamic interaction between variables such as technology, affective factors, facilities, and academic achievement. These recent studies identified the positive and negative effects of technology on academic success in higher education. Emerging digital tools, such as artificial intelligence and ChatGPT, were found to significantly improve learning performance. Overall, the findings imply that there is a ‘generation gap’ between the early academic success theories and the emerging technology-based frameworks in higher education. It is recommended that researchers, institutions, and practitioners seek to bridge these academic success theoretical gaps using appropriate theoretical design interventions that closely examine the impacts of integrating technology into higher education.