Investigating the antecedents and consequences of trust in ChatGPT across cultures: a learner-centric perspective

Abstract

Purpose Due to ChatGPT’s relative novelty, the determinants and consequences of trust in it remain largely unexplored, especially in the field of higher education. This research investigates how perceptions of AI can foster university students’ trust in ChatGPT, which in turn leads to their continuance and sharing intentions. Cross-cultural differences are also analyzed to provide culturally relevant insights. Design/methodology/approach A mixed-methods approach was employed. In the qualitative phase (Study 1), we interviewed 30 university students and used an inductive methodology to analyze the data. In the follow-up quantitative studies, the hypotheses were examined using a sample of 249 students from China (Study 2) and 204 students from the United States (Study 3). Findings Qualitative results suggest that perceived benefits (convenience, usefulness and controllability) and perceived risks (inflexibility, privacy invasion and overreliance) are identified as antecedents of learners’ trust in ChatGPT. Quantitative results reveal that factors including convenience, usefulness and overreliance on AI positively influence learners’ trust in ChatGPT. Furthermore, trust positively affects learners’ continuance intention and sharing intention. These findings are consistent across the Chinese and American samples. However, inflexibility significantly influences trust among Chinese learners but not among American learners. Additionally, invasion of privacy negatively affects trust in ChatGPT only for the US sample, suggesting cultural divergence in trust formation between these two countries. Originality/value We shed light on the antecedents and consequences of trust in ChatGPT within higher education settings, especially across different cultures. This research endeavor also promotes the integration of ChatGPT for learning activities to maximize the utility of this technology.

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