Emotional Engagement, Digital Citizenship Competency, and Civic Character Development: A Mediated Structural Analysis

How emotional engagement produces durable civic character in technology-mediated learning remains underspecified, particularly in non-Western contexts that diverge from dominant frameworks. Drawing on Pekrun’s (2024) control-value theory and Kahu and Nelson’s (2018) engagement framework, this study tests a structural model in which digital citizenship competency mediates the emotional engagement–civic character association. A cross-sectional survey with temporal separation—predictor at Week 4, mediator and outcome at Week 9—was administered to N = 298 undergraduates across four faculties at [Anonymized]. Structural equation modeling (AMOS 27) with bootstrapped indirect-effect analysis (PROCESS macro v4.2; 10,000 resamples) indicated partial mediation: digital citizenship competency accounted for 31% of the total association (indirect B = 0.13, SE = 0.04, 95% BCa CI [0.06, 0.22]). Both pathways were concurrent—a direct affective path (β = .22, p = .003) and an indirect capability-building path (β = .11)—constituting complementary partial mediation (Zhao et al., 2010). Model comparison favored this model over non-mediated and reverse-mediated alternatives (Δχ ² (1) = 17.34, p < .001; ΔAIC = 15.34; ΔBIC = 13.24); RIR sensitivity analysis indicated that 47 of 298 cases (15.8%) would need replacing to invalidate the effect. The largest subscale pathways were for Civic Competency (B = 0.14) and Civic Engagement (B = 0.12). Given the cross-sectional design, concurrent mediator–outcome measurement, and single-institution self-report, findings are interpreted as structural associations rather than causal effects, pending replication. The study contributes structural evidence from an Indonesian Pancasila-grounded context, informing teacher educators designing integrated civic character curricula.