Understanding business students’ GenAI usage and perception and associated implications

This research aims to understand undergraduate business students’ Generative AI (GenAI) usage and perception by analyzing survey data collected in August 2024 and January 2025. The study intends to identify whether any gap exists between the extent of GenAI usage by college students and how businesses are planning to use GenAI. Key findings revealed that business students often use GenAI for information search, brainstorming ideas, and writing-related tasks; however, their use of GenAI for data analysis and multimedia contents are extremely limited. The study also finds that students’ GenAI usage is increasing, but they are still not confident about their GenAI proficiency. This research stresses the need for higher education institutions and instructors to not only teach how to use GenAI in more depth, especially prompt engineering, but also incorporate GenAI tools in a variety of business use case settings to teach the full potential of GenAI and its limitations to meet industry needs.