Is Anxiety Affecting the Adoption of ChatGPT in University Teaching? A Gender Perspective

Abstract The emergence of ChatGPT and other AI-based tools has revolutionized the professional and educational world. This paper aims to analyze the factors that may lead university teachers to consider adopting ChatGPT in their work. This study examines how some relevant Unified Theory of Acceptance and Use of Technology (UTAUT) model variables (effort expectancy, facilitating conditions, and performance expectancy), technology-related anxiety and gender influence teachers’ intentions to use ChatGPT. A questionnaire was developed and sent to professors at Spanish public universities, resulting in a sample of 249 valid responses. The results indicate that performance expectancy, facilitating conditions, anxiety related to student learning and gender are the main determinants of the intention to use ChatGPT by teachers. After conducting an exploratory analysis segmented by gender, it was found that men and women analyze the possibility of adopting ChatGPT through different variables. For male teachers, performance expectancy and facilitating conditions are the variables that affect the intention to use ChatGPT. In contrast, female teachers’ intention is influenced by anxiety related to student learning and anxiety related to technology use, in addition to performance expectancy and facilitating conditions. Therefore, these results suggest that it is crucial to consider individual perceptions, gender as well as contextual factors when promoting the adoption of tools such as ChatGPT among university teachers. Educational institutions should provide teachers with the skills needed to create, adapt and use information and communication technologies, especially those based on generative AI. This training should adopt new strategies that take gender differences into account.