The development and validation of the digital intelligence scale for students

Title

The development and validation of the digital intelligence scale for students

Creator

Savarimuthu, James Robert

Description

Digital intelligence is increasingly recognized as a vital skill in navigating both academic and personal digital environments, yet existing tools often use multidimensional or adult-oriented frameworks. This study aims to develop and validate the Digital Intelligence Scale for Students (DISS), a unidimensional self-report instrument designed to assess the general digital intelligence of school, college, and university students. The study was conducted in two phases. In the first phase, data was collected from 786 students in India to examine the factor structure of the model. The analysis supported a unidimensional model, indicating that all items measured a single underlying construct. In the second phase, data was collected from 611 students in India to confirm the unidimensional model. Results supported a robust unidimensional structure, with excellent internal consistency (? = 0.954). The DISS was found to be significantly correlated with Internet Skills Scale and Digital Literacy Scale, providing evidence for convergent validity. Divergent validity was assessed using State-Trait Anxiety Inventory and Big Five Personality Inventory. This scale provides a practical framework for evaluating digital readiness in educational settings and guiding interventions. Subsequent studies could validate its relevance across cultural contexts and examine developmental trajectories in digital intelligence. The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer Science+Business Media, LLC, part of Springer Nature 2026.

Source

Education and Information Technologies;

Date

01-01-2026

Publisher

Springer

Subject

Digital competence; Digital intelligence; Digital literacy; Digital wellbeing; Psychometric validation; Scale development

Coverage

Savarimuthu J.R., Department of Psychology, CHRIST University, Bangalore, 560074, India

Rights

Restricted Access; Hardcopy may be available in the library

Relation

ISSN: 13602357;

Format

online

Language

English

Type

Article

Identifier

https://doi.org/10.1007/s10639-026-14003-2

https://www.scopus.com/pages/publications/105036186851?origin=resultslist