Exploring the Enablers of Voluntary Educational Usage of Douyin (TikTok) Among University Students in China

Short-video platforms increasingly support informal learning, yet the determinants of students’ voluntary educational use remain under-specified. This study models Chinese undergraduates’ educational use of Douyin (TikTok’s China-market version) by integrating the Technology Acceptance Model (TAM) and Social Cognitive Theory (SCT), specifying two complementary routes: a platform-facing Adoption route—operationalized as a reflective second-order construct indicated by perceived usefulness, perceived ease of use, and social influence—and a person-centered Personal Factor route. A cross-sectional survey of N = 486 undergraduates from a public university in Henan, China, was analyzed using confirmatory factor analysis and structural equation modeling. Results show that both routes significantly and positively predict educational usage (Adoption: β = .54, p < .001; Personal Factor: β = .41, p < .001). These findings indicate that repurposing an entertainment-first platform for learning depends jointly on platform appraisals and learner dispositions. The study contributes an integrated TAM–SCT specification of voluntary educational usage on short-video platforms and offers practical implications for instructional design and platform features/policies.