Assessing ChatGPT Adoption in Higher Education: An Empirical Analysis

Artificial intelligence (AI) has transformed the educational landscape and reshaped learning experiences. Its adoption in higher education is increasing due to the recent plethora of AI tools (AITs) and their associated benefits. Romanian universities face the challenge of integrating AITs in the learning process. Thus, the students’ attitudes and behavioral intentions concerning the use of AITs are meaningful. Technology acceptance models have been widely used to investigate factors that affect the intention to use a technology. ChatGPT (Chat Generative Pre-Trained Transformer) is a popular AIT among students. Therefore, this study presents a conceptual model for successfully adopting ChatGPT in a Romanian Higher Education Institution (HEI). A case study was conducted at the Faculty of Cybernetics, Statistics, and Economic Informatics at the Bucharest University of Economic Studies to test this model. Structural equation modeling (SEM) was used to validate and inspect the model’s network of determinants. The findings indicate that perceived ease of use (PEOU) and perceived usefulness (PU) are key predictors of student satisfaction (S) and trust (T), which in turn promote loyalty (L) to the AIT. The paper provides a novel perspective by distinguishing between forms of social presence, and their impact on students’ satisfaction and trust, thereby enhancing the understanding of student behavior toward AIT adoption.