Examining the behavioral determinants of AI adoption in higher education: a focus on perceptional factors and demographic differences

Purpose Artificial intelligence (AI) has seen considerable growth recently and is denoted as an emerging technology, particularly in educational settings. This study aims to explain the students’ perceptions and behavioral factors in adopting AI. This paper utilized gender and country differences to explore the adoption patterns influenced by perceptual and behavioral factors, including AI literacy, AI anxiety, AI self-efficacy, relevance, and perceived enjoyment. Design/methodology/approach A survey was conducted on Malaysian students using purposive sampling. The finalized sample of 391 respondents was tested using MS Excel, SPSS and SmartPLS to obtain the results. Moreover, to observe the differences, this paper used multigroup analysis based on gender and country. Findings This paper found that the theoretical factors strongly influence the intention of students to adopt AI in higher education. AI anxiety, AI self-efficacy and perceived enjoyment affect ease of use (PEOU). AI literacy, PEOU, relevance and subjective norms influence perceived usefulness (PU). In addition, both PU and PEOU shape students’ attitudes and intentions to adopt AI in their learning. Originality/value The use of AI has garnered significant attention from both consumers and organizations. This study specifically focuses on students, shedding light on the perceptual, behavioral and social factors influencing AI adoption in higher education.