Digital etiquette and belief-oriented technology use among Kazakhstani pre-service teachers: a cross-sectional survey

Introduction Digital etiquette (netiquette) is a key component of digital citizenship, yet its behavioral profile and association with belief-oriented technology use remain underexamined in bilingual teacher-education contexts. This study examined Kazakhstani pre-service teachers' self-reported digital etiquette and belief-oriented technology use, evaluated the factorial structure and language equivalence of the adapted measures, and explored whether digital etiquette was associated with instructional-technology course completion and selected background variables. Methods A quantitative cross-sectional survey was conducted in Winter 2024–2025 with 300 students from two Kazakhstani universities. Data were collected using Kazakh and Russian versions of the questionnaire. Confirmatory factor analysis was used to evaluate the measurement structure, multi-group CFA was conducted to test language invariance, and correlational and regression-based analyses examined associations among digital etiquette, belief-oriented technology use, instructional-technology course completion, GPA, year of study, and gender. Results Confirmatory factor analysis supported a two-factor structure with acceptable fit (CFI = .95, RMSEA = .06), and multi-group CFA indicated scalar invariance across language versions. Participants reported high digital etiquette (M = 4.47, SD = 0.41) and belief-oriented technology use (M = 4.30, SD = 0.48). Digital etiquette was positively associated with belief-oriented technology use (Spearman's rs = .53, 95% CI [.45, .60], p  < .001). After adjustment for GPA and year of study, instructional-technology course completion was not associated with higher digital etiquette (ΔR 2  = .003; ANCOVA p  = .142), and gender differences were negligible. Discussion The findings provide bilingual measurement evidence from Kazakhstan and suggest that belief-oriented technology use is associated with, but not equivalent to, self-reported digital etiquette. Because the study was cross-sectional, relied on single-source self-report data, and showed an upper-range concentration in digital etiquette scores, the results should be interpreted as exploratory and correlational rather than causal.