Digital Well-being and Sustainable Academic Performance among University Students: A Self-Determination Theory Perspective

Abstract

Digital technology is transforming higher education, but its benefits depend on students' meaningful engagement. Guided by Self-Determination Theory (SDT), this study examines the effects of autonomy, competence, and relatedness on sustainable academic performance. Using a positivist philosophy and descriptive-causal research design, data were collected from 200 students at three Tribhuvan University-affiliated campuses. Descriptive statistics, Kendall's tau-b correlation, and multiple linear regression were used for analysis. The findings show that autonomy, competence, and relatedness significantly and positively influence sustainable academic performance, explaining 33.7% of its variance. Autonomy was the strongest predictor. The results suggest that students' self-directed use of digital learning technologies and AI-supported tools enhances sustainable academic performance by satisfying their basic psychological needs.