From support to efficacy: unpacking the mediating role of knowledge sharing in developing teachers' digital teaching efficacy

Introduction Against the backdrop of global educational digital transformation, while Chinese higher education institutions have markedly enhanced their digital teaching infrastructure, faculty digital teaching efficacy (DTE) remains a critical challenge in achieving high-quality digital instruction. Existing research predominantly focuses on the direct impact of institutional support on faculty digital teaching capabilities, with insufficient attention paid to its underlying transformative mechanisms. Consequently, this study introduces knowledge sharing (KS) among faculty as a mediating variable to explore the intrinsic pathways through which institutional support influences DTE. Methods Drawing upon the Job Demands-Resources Model (JD-R Model), Organizational Support Theory (OST), and Social Cognitive Theory (SCT), a mediation model was constructed with perceived school support (PSS) as the antecedent, KS as the mediator, and DTE as the outcome. A questionnaire survey of 623 Chinese university teachers was conducted, employing structural equation modeling and bootstrap methods for validation. Results Results indicate that PSS exerts both a direct positive effect on DTE ( β = 0.362, p < 0.001) and an indirect influence via KS (indirect effect β = 0.184, p = 0.002), with KS partially mediating this relationship and accounting for 39.20% of the total effect. Discussion These findings reveal that institutional support not only directly enhances faculty digital teaching efficacy but also operates through activating knowledge sharing as a key social mechanism, highlighting the importance of fostering collaborative professional exchange to translate organizational resources into individual teaching confidence in the digital transformation context.