Akademik Veri Yönetim Sistemi
American Journal of Distance Education, 2026 (ESCI, Scopus)
This study aims to develop and test structural models to understand Turkish higher education students’ perceptions of transactional distance. A correlational research design was employed with 399 participants from a state university in Türkiye. Key constructs were measured using established scales for transactional distance, social presence, learning approaches, and individual innovativeness. Nine hypotheses were proposed, highlighting to investigate the positive effects of deep understanding and individual innovativeness on social presence and transactional distance, as well as the positive effect of SP on TD and the negative effects of surface learning on individual innovativeness, social presence, and transactional distance. The results indicate that the structural model fits the data well except for the third and eighth hypotheses, showing significant positive influences of social presence and deep understanding on transactional distance, while surface learning negatively impacts transactional distance. Additionally, differences in perceptions were observed based on demographic factors, with older students perceiving lower levels of transactional distance compared to younger students. Furthermore, college students (associate degree students) reported lower transactional distance but higher social presence than faculty students (bachelor’s degree students). These findings suggest that when students engage in deep understanding and perceive high levels of social presence, they are likely to report lower perceptions of transactional distance. Conversely, students who adopt surface learning approaches tend to have higher perceptions of transactional distance. It is recommended that educators focus on fostering deep learning understanding strategies and enhancing social presence to improve students’ overall learning experiences in online environments.