Understanding Digital Self-Efficacy in Underserved Schools: The Role of Socioeconomic Access

Digital literacy has become central to educational participation and social inclusion worldwide. Yet significant disparities persist in low-resource schooling contexts, where unequal access to digital infrastructure may shape learners’ confidence in engaging with technology. This study examines the relationship between socioeconomic access and digital self-efficacy among underserved high school students in South Africa through the lens of the UNESCO Digital Literacy Global Framework (DLGF). Data were collected from 286 learners in three Eastern Cape secondary schools in South Africa using a structured questionnaire measuring constructs derived from the DLGF. Focusing on two core constructs, socioeconomic access and digital self-efficacy, a partial PLS-SEM model was estimated with SmartPLS 4. The reflective measurement model showed acceptable reliability and convergent validity (CR = 0.83, AVE = 0.51 for socioeconomic access; CR = 0.79, AVE = 0.65 for digital self-efficacy). Socioeconomic access was positively associated with digital self-efficacy (β = 0.38, t = 7.04, p < 0.001), explaining 15% of its variance (R2 = 0.15). These findings suggest that policies aimed at improving device availability and reliable connectivity in underserved schools may strengthen learners’ confidence in performing foundational digital literacy tasks, particularly information search and source evaluation.