Exploring factors influencing educators’ adoption of ChatGPT: a mixed method approach
Interactive Technology and Smart Education
ISSN: 1741-5659
Article publication date: 21 December 2023
Issue publication date: 30 October 2024
Abstract
Purpose
A number of recent artificial intelligence (AI)-enabled technologies, including summarisers, paraphrasers and the cutting-edge chatbots not only have outstanding potentials in modern educational systems but also could lead to a dramatic paradigm shift in the whole education process. This study aims to explore the factors that shape the academic community’s desire and intention to use AI conversational chatbot technology, with a particular focus on the leading ChatGPT.
Design/methodology/approach
This study uses a mixed method approach to explore the educators’ adoption of chatbots through an empirically validated model. The model, known as the “Educators’ Adoption of ChatGPT”, was developed by integrating the theoretical foundations of both the Unified Theory of Acceptance and Use of Technology and Status Quo Bias (SQB) frameworks, as well as insights gathered from interviews. The relationships within this model were then tested using a quantitative approach. The partial least squares-structural equation modelling method was used to analyse 243 valid survey responses.
Findings
The outcomes of the analysis indicated that perceived educators’ effort expectancy, educators’ autonomous motivation, perceived learners’ AI competency, perceived educators’ competency, innovative behaviour towards technological agility and perceived students’ engagement are significant determinants of educators’ intention to use chatbots. In contrast, perceived unfair evaluation of students, perceived students’ overreliance and perceived bias/inaccuracies were shown to have significant impacts on the resistance to use the technology, which typically implies a negatively significant influence on the educators’ use intention. Interestingly, perceived fraudulent use of ChatGPT was proven insignificant on the resistance to use chatbots.
Originality/value
This study makes a significant contribution to the field of educational technology by filling the gap in research on the use and acceptance of AI-enabled assistants in education. It proposes an original, empirically validated model of educator adoption, which identifies the factors that influence educators’ willingness to use chatbots in higher education and offers valuable insights for practical implementation.
Keywords
Acknowledgements
Funding: The authors received no financial support for the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article.
Declaration of competing interest: The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper.
Ethics statement: Not applicable.
Data availability: Data will be made available on request.
Citation
Hidayat-ur-Rehman, I. and Ibrahim, Y. (2024), "Exploring factors influencing educators’ adoption of ChatGPT: a mixed method approach", Interactive Technology and Smart Education, Vol. 21 No. 4, pp. 499-534. https://doi.org/10.1108/ITSE-07-2023-0127
Publisher
:Emerald Publishing Limited
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