Adopting educational technology remains a critical challenge in developing countries, particularly given limited resources and the urgency of achieving the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goal 4 by 2030. This paper aims to create and validate a model for educational technology adoption for developing countries (ETADC) that addresses the gaps in existing models by incorporating education-specific factors and local contexts. The ETADC model integrates foundational theories with local and educational elements within the technological pedagogical content knowledge (TPACK) framework, empowering educators to enhance teaching–learning experiences for a tech-driven world. The ETADC framework includes six components—four sourced from established theories and two based on research into the experiences of in-service and pre-service teachers in developing countries regarding educational technology adoption. These components formulate an appropriate model for evaluating, identifying, and implementing educational technologies within developing countries’ educational contexts. Validation through meta-analysis and two-stage structural equation modeling in R Studio version 4.4.0 with data from 30 high-impact studies (sample size N = 8934) confirmed the model’s effectiveness, showcasing a strong fit and significant path coefficient. This model has been used to evaluate certain educational technologies for further adoption. ETADC offers a practical and scalable roadmap for sustainable EdTech adoption, potentially supporting educational transformation and development worldwide, particularly in under-resourced contexts.

This paper develops a Model for Educational Technology Adoption for Developing Countries (ETADC). Existing models lack education-specific factors and fail to consider local contexts which limits their applicability in Developing Countries (DCs). The ETADC model addresses gaps by integrating foundational theories with local and educational factors within the Technological Pedagogical Content Knowledge (TPACK) framework that empowers educators to create meaningful teaching-learning experiences that prepare students for a tech-driven world. The study aims to create a model tailored for DCs and validate the model’s superiority, and generalizability across varied educational settings. The ETADC framework includes six components—four sourced from established theories and two based on research into the experiences of in-service and pre-service teachers in DCs regarding educational technology adoption. These components formulate an appropriate model for evaluating, identifying, and implementing educational technologies within DCs educational context. Validation through meta-analysis and Two-Stage Structural Equation Modeling applied in R studio using data from 30 high-impact studies (N = 8934) confirmed the model’s effectiveness with a strong statistical fit, high explanatory power, and significant path coefficients. ETADC offers a practical guide for adopting educational technology worldwide, particularly in resource-restricted environments. Using the model, some educational technologies have been evaluated for further adoption.