Attitudes towards digital educational technologies among international and Russian students at multinational university: motivational and personality predictors

 
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Abstract

Context and relevance. Internationalization and digitalization are the most important trends in modern higher education. In Russian psychology, there is a lack of research on the psychological predictors of international students' attitudes towards digital educational technologies (DETs) in the context of intercultural adaptation issues.
Objective. To identify the characteristics of attitudes towards the DETs and its motivational and personality predictors among international students from CIS and non-CIS countries compared to Russian students of Russian multinational university.
Hypotheses: (1) international students, especially from non-CIS countries, have a less positive attitudes towards the DETs than Russian students; (2) types of academic motivation are more often significant predictors for attitudes towards the DETs compared to personality traits in all students’ groups; and (3) personality traits are more often significant predictors for attitudes towards the DETs among international students compared to Russian students.
Methods and materials. The study involved 480 students from a multinational Russian university: 223 international university students (71,7% female) from 40 countries aged 17 to 39 years (M = 22,34; SD = 3,44) and 257 Russian university students (71,2% female) aged 17 to 36 years (M = 19,86; SD = 2,05). For diagnostics, the author's "Attitudes towards DETs Scale for University Students", a short Russian-language version of the Five-Factor Questionnaire, and the "Academic Motivation Scale" were used.
Results. Intercultural differences were confirmed both in the severity of attitudes towards DETs and its components, and in their relationships with motivational and personality factors among university students from Asian CIS countries and non-CIS countries compared to Russian students.
Conclusions. It is necessary to develop programs to increase the interest, awareness, and practical skills of international students for working with the DETs of a particular university, taking into account the identified cultural, motivational, and personality characteristics, which will contribute to better adaptation to education in Russia in university students from different countries.

General Information

Keywords: digital educational technologies, higher education, attitudes, personality traits, academic motivation, international university students

Journal rubric: Empirical Research

Article type: scientific article

DOI: https://doi.org/10.17759/sps.2026170305

Supplemental data. Datasets аvailable from https://ruspsydata.mgppu.ru/handle/123456789/380

Received 23.06.2026

Revised 31.07.2026

Accepted

Published

For citation: Novikova, I.A., Bychkova, P.A., Novikov, A.L. (2026). Attitudes towards digital educational technologies among international and Russian students at multinational university: motivational and personality predictors. Social Psychology and Society, 17(3), 70–88. (In Russ.). https://doi.org/10.17759/sps.2026170305

© Novikova I.A., Bychkova P.A., Novikov A.L., 2026

License: CC BY-NC 4.0

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Information About the Authors

Irina A. Novikova, Candidate of Science (Psychology), Associate Professor, Chair of Psychology and Pedagogy, Philology Department, RUDN University, Moscow, Russian Federation, ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-5831-1547, e-mail: novikova-ia@rudn.ru

Polina . Bychkova, Candidate of Science (Psychology), Senior Lecturer, Chair of Psychology and Pedagogy, Philology Department, RUDN University, Moscow, Russian Federation, ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-6526-7262, e-mail: bychkova-pa@rudn.ru

Alexey L. Novikov, Candidate of Science (Philology), Associate Professor, Associate Professor, Chair of the General and Russian Linguistics Philology Department, RUDN University, Moscow, Russian Federation, ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-3482-5070, e-mail: novikov-al@rudn.ru

Contribution of the authors

Irina A. Novikova — ideas; annotation, writing and design of the manuscript; planning and conducting
of the research; data collection and analysis; control over the research.
Polina A. Bychkova — writing and design of the manuscript; planning and conducting of the research;
application of statistical and mathematical methods for data analysis; data collection and
analysis.
Alexey L. Novikov — writing and design of the manuscript; planning and conducting of the research;
data collection and analysis.

All authors participated in the discussion of the results and approved the final text of the
manuscript.

Conflict of interest

The authors declare no conflict of interest.

Ethics statement

The study was reviewed and approved by the Ethics Committee of RUDN University (report no 050422-0-121, 2022/05/10).

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