Digital Experiential Learning Ecosystems and Perceived Sustainability Outcomes: A Partial Mediation Model of Learning Engagement

The rapid adoption of immersive and adaptive digital technologies is redefining sustainability education, but the mechanisms by which these technologies support perceived sustainability outcomes remain unclear. This paper models the Digital Experiential Learning Ecosystem (DELE), including simulation, AR/VR, gamification, AI personalization, and collaborative digital platforms, as a higher-order construct. It discusses its role in Perceived Sustainability Outcomes through learning engagement. Basing the study on the Stimulus-Organism-Response framework, the study hypothesizes that the digital ecosystem design can be viewed as an environmental stimulus, engagement as the organismic processing state, and Perceived Sustainability Outcomes as the developmental response. The results, obtained using Partial Least Squares Structural Equation Modeling (PLS-SEM), indicate that DELE is positively associated with learning engagement and Perceived Sustainability Outcomes. Learning engagement is found to be the leading mechanism through which digital experiential environments are converted into perceived sustainability outcomes, but a smaller yet significant direct structural relationship also remains. These findings indicate that digital transformation within the education sector creates sustainable value not only through technological sophistication but also through carefully planned engagement-based learning environments that support systems thinking, applied problem-solving, and adaptive readiness to work in multifaceted environments. The research also advances the body of research on sustainability education by developing a model of digital learning as an integrated ecosystem and by explaining the psychological and structural processes of perceived sustainability outcomes.