Digital technologies have brought innovations to all areas of our lives, especially education and social areas, where the use of technology is inevitable. Therefore, the concept of digital competence has become a central part of our lives (Sillat, Tammets, & Laanpere, 2021). Educators working in higher education institutions where digitalization is developing rapidly need a broader and more sophisticated set of digital competencies (Redecker, 2017) in order to use the new and wider opportunities (Chris, 2004) offered by technology.

Today's higher education environment has a dynamic structure where digital technologies are changing rapidly and academic professionals have to keep up with this transformation. Digital competences play a critical role for instructors to enrich their educational processes, improve students' digital skills and increase their academic productivity. However, the development of professionals' digital skills is largely related to the institution in which they work. Firstly, it can be stated that the digital competences of professionals can be influenced by the digital capability of the university. Because, the digital competence of the university is directly related to the quality of its digital infrastructure and the technological opportunities it provides to its academic staff. Organizational digital capability is an indispensable way to increase the quality of teaching service, productivity, innovation, individual and organizational performance (Caena, & Redecker, 2019) and has become one of the primary objectives of organizations (Lucas et al., 2021). Universities with high organizational digital capability create an environment that encourages faculty members to develop their digital skills and support digital education processes through institutional policies. In addition, it is thought that the support professionals receive from their institutions may also be effective in terms of developing their digital competencies. Perceived Organizational Support (POS), a concept that has been accepted in the literature for many years, is defined as employees' perceptions of the extent to which the organization values their contributions and cares about their well-being (Hutchison, 1997). It can be said that effective support mechanisms will facilitate the adoption of digital technologies by lecturers and contribute to the development of their digital competences. In this sense, it can be asserted that the concepts of ‘digital competences of higher education professionals, university support mechanisms and institutional digital competence’ included in this study are concepts that can affect each other. Accordingly, the purpose of this study is to determine and analyze in depth how these factors affect each other by determining the digital competencies of higher education professionals, the institutional support mechanisms they perceive and institutional digital competencies. In line with this purpose, the following questions will be answered in the research:

1. What are the digital competence levels of higher education professionals?

2. What are the institutional support mechanisms perceived by higher education professionals?

3. How do higher education professionals perceive the digital capacity of their organizations?

4. Is there a significant relationship between higher education professionals' digital competences, perceived institutional support and organizational digital capacity?

5. How do academic staff experience the impact of institutional support mechanisms on developing their digital competences?

6. How does the perception of digital capacity of higher education organizations shape the digital competences of higher education professionals?

7. How do the support mechanisms and digital capacity specified in institutional documents affect the digital competences of higher education professionals?

With these questions, the research addresses the interaction between digital competences, institutional support mechanisms and organizational digital capacity from a holistic perspective, which can be asserted to be of great importance in terms of guiding digital transformation processes in higher education.

This study is designed in exploratory sequential mixed design, one of the mixed research models, as combining qualitative and quantitative methods provides a more holistic understanding (Davies, 2000). In the quantitative phase of the study, ‘Digital Competence Scale for Educators’ (Redecker, 2017), ‘Perceived Institutional Support Scale-SPOS (Dolma, & Torun, 2017) and “Institutional Digital Competence Scale (IDCS)” (Tutar et al., 2024) will be used. The scales will be administered to academic administrators (Rector, Vice Rectors, Deans, Assistant Deans), academic staff (Professor, Associate Professor, Dr., Lecturer, Research Assistant) and academic professionals working in academic support units. In determining the participants, stratified sampling will be preferred to ensure representation according to academic positions, and convenience sampling will be preferred to reach a wider list of participants. In the analysis of the data obtained in this way, descriptive statistics will be used to determine the general distribution of digital competence, perceived institutional support and institutional digital competence levels. In addition, Pearson correlation analysis and multiple regression analyses will be conducted to determine the relationships between the digital competencies of academic professionals and the perceived institutional support and digital capacity of their universities. In the study, a semi-structured interview form developed by the researchers and analyzed for validity and reliability will be used to collect qualitative data. Semi-structured interviews will be conducted with lecturers and administrators selected among the participants who participated in the quantitative phase of the research. At this stage, purposive sampling and maximum variation sampling will be used to obtain a variety of views from different academic contexts and organizational roles. Direct, face-to-face interviews will be conducted with these participants and the interviews will be recorded, transcribed and analyzed. In addition, document analysis will be utilized to support quantitative and qualitative data. These documents are documents published on universities' digital transformation policies, digital skills development programs for academics, institutional strategy documents and support mechanisms. Qualitative data will be analyzed using thematic analysis and content analysis methods. The data obtained from semi-structured interviews will be categorized under the main themes determined based on the experiences of the academic staff and thematic analysis will be used. Content analysis will be used to analyze the data obtained through document analysis. The quantitative and qualitative analysis results of the study will be brought together and the findings will be interpreted from a holistic perspective.

This study, conducted with a mixed method research approach, will provide a general picture of higher education professionals' digital competence levels, perceptions of institutional support and organizational digital capacity through quantitative analyses. In addition, the study is expected to find a significant relationship between higher education professionals' digital competences and perceived institutional support. Similarly, the study can reveal significant relationship between digital competences and organizational digital capacity. The qualitative part of the study aims to understand the digital competence experiences of higher education professionals and the effects of institutional support mechanisms and organizational digital capacity in more depth. In addition, what kind of expectations academics have about the support mechanisms offered by universities and where support mechanisms are lacking can be revealed. The study will also discuss the impact of universities' perception of digital competence on academics, especially in the context of digital competences. With the document analysis conducted in the research, it will be determined whether the digital transformation policies of universities, digital skills development programs offered for academics and institutional strategy documents support the digital competencies of higher education professionals. In the literature, studies examining the relationship between digital competence, institutional support mechanisms and organizational digital capacity are limited. This research will provide a unique framework on how these three dimensions interact. The results obtained will contribute to the development of more effective policies for the digital transformation processes of higher education institutions and provide recommendations to strengthen the digital competences of higher education professionals.

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