Getting to know ChatGPT: How business students feel, what they think about personal morality, and how their academic outcomes affect Oman's higher education

Abstract

The present study develops an integrative framework that investigates the relationship between the acceptability of ChatGPT among business students and their attitude, intention to adopt, and performance. This is achieved by examining the moderating role of business students' moral values and religious ethics. Using data collected from 312 university business students in Oman, we show that perceived usefulness (PU), perceived ease of use (PEOU), and perceived convenience (PC) have a positive effect on their attitudes toward ChatGPT. Business students' attitudes toward ChatGPT have a strong positive influence on their adoption intentions. Notably, university business students’ ChatGPT adoption intentions increased their academic performance. Remarkably, business students' Personal Morality and religion-related ethics trigger them to experience regret or a sense of responsibility for their actions that violate academic integrity or ethical standards in their studies. Establishing explicit ethical standards and procedures for the usage of artificial intelligence (AI) tools such as ChatGPT in educational settings is vital for higher educational institutions (HEIs). This research adds to the theoretical intervention of investigating how personal morality and religion-related ethics interact with AI tools such as ChatGPT, which can add to ethical decision-making theories. The current study has significant implications for theory as well as for practice. • We examined the relationship between ChatGPT acceptance and student attitudes. • The extended TAM explained the impact of personal morality on students' adoption intentions. • Perceived usefulness, ease of use, and convenience positively affect their attitudes toward ChatGPT. • Students' attitudes toward ChatGPT have a strong positive influence on their adoption intentions. • University students' ChatGPT adoption intentions increased their academic performance.