2171: Geek up or Not to Geek up? University Educators´ Digital Competence in Stress Management (12593)

Despite their significant influence, university educators face distinct and demanding challenges, particularly in the context of the ongoing digital transformation. These profession-related stressors impede their ability to achieve psychological detachment, which is crucial for their overall well-being. To address these challenges effectively, educators must acquire a specific set of skills tailored to the evolving demands of the digital era. Based on the Stressor-Detachment model, this study investigates the moderating effect of educators' Digital Competence on the negative relationship between Job Stressors and Psychological Detachment. In a sample of 731 university educators in Ecuador, our findings confirm the established negative associations between Workload and Work-family Conflict with Psychological Detachment and a positive link between Organizational Support and Psychological Detachment. Unexpectedly, Family-work Conflict was positively associated with Psychological Detachment. The moderation analysis shows that the composite construct of Digital Competence does not universally moderate all stressors but mitigates Family-work Conflict. This finding underscores the role of educators’ digital proficiency in specific stressful contexts. Additionally, moderation analysis for each individual dimension of Digital Competence indicated that specific dimensions may exert more pronounced effects than others.

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