Impact of perceived ease of use and perceived usefulness of humanoid robots on students' intention to use

Ximeng Chen; Lina Jiang; Zineng Zhou; Dongxue Li

doi:10.1016/j.actpsy.2025.105217

Impact of perceived ease of use and perceived usefulness of humanoid robots on students' intention to use

Acta Psychol (Amst). 2025 Jun 26:258:105217. doi: 10.1016/j.actpsy.2025.105217. Online ahead of print.

Authors

Ximeng Chen¹, Lina Jiang², Zineng Zhou², Dongxue Li³

Affiliations

¹ Teachers College for Vocational and Technical Education, Nanning Normal University, Nanning, China; China-ASEAN Vocational Education Research Center, Nanning Normal University, Nanning, China.
² Teachers College for Vocational and Technical Education, Nanning Normal University, Nanning, China.
³ Nanning University, Nanning, China. Electronic address: lidongxue202101@163.com.

PMID: 40577884
DOI: 10.1016/j.actpsy.2025.105217

Abstract

The rapid progress of artificial intelligence (AI) has spurred significant changes in education, highlighting the need to explore students' perceptions and acceptance of AI-driven educational tools like humanoid robots. This study builds on an extended version of the Technology Acceptance Model (TAM), incorporating students' individual traits such as novelty-seeking and self-efficacy. Data was collected from 508 undergraduate students in mainland China through a survey, and analyzed using SPSS 23.0 and SmartPLS 4.0. The results show that novelty-seeking positively impacts perceived usefulness, while self-efficacy significantly enhances perceived ease of use. Both perceived ease of use and perceived usefulness are strong predictors of students' attitudes, which in turn influence their behavioral intentions to use humanoid robots in educational settings. The study enriches the TAM framework by integrating individual differences, providing new theoretical perspectives on technology acceptance in education. It also offers practical implications for education technology developers, educators, and policymakers, such as designing services according to students' personality traits, focusing on students with high self-efficacy for promotion, and highlighting the advantages of humanoid robots. However, the study has limitations, including potential sample bias from online surveys and a focus on current robots. Future research could address these by conducting broader field studies and exploring more advanced robots.

Keywords: Humanoid robots; Perceived ease of use; Perceived usefulness; Usage intention.