Relationship between Self-Esteem and Technological Readiness: Mediation Effect of Readiness for Change and Moderated Mediation Effect of Gender in South Korean Teachers

This study aimed to investigate the moderated mediation effect of gender and the mediation effect of readiness for change (RC) on self-esteem and technology readiness (TR) among South Korean teachers. Participants were 302 teachers who are living and working in South Korea. The collected data were analyzed using frequency and correlation analyses, and the moderated mediation effect. First, we considered the differences in TR and RC according to gender, and they were reported to be higher in men than in women. The number of teachers who had worked for more than 11 years was significantly higher than that of other teaching career groups. Second, correlation analysis showed a positive correlation between self-esteem, TR, and RC by gender. Third, teachers' RC mediates the relationship between self-esteem and TR. Fourth, the teachers' gender moderated the relationship between self-esteem and RC. Additionally, teachers' gender moderated the mediating effect of RC on self-esteem and TR. Finally, based on the study results, we suggest the development of a program for improving self-esteem to enhance TR and RC among teachers of both genders. Additionally, future research should consider universal teacher sampling to facilitate the comparison of teachers' characteristics and to identify variances in the data.