When crisis awareness weakens rational evaluation: the conditional role of information quality in college English teachers' adoption of generative AI

Abstract

Generative artificial intelligence (GenAI) is rapidly transforming higher education. However, the psychological mechanisms underlying its adoption among educators remain insufficiently understood. Drawing on an extended Technology Acceptance Model (TAM) and Threat Rigidity Theory (TRT), this study examines how cognitive evaluations and crisis awareness (CA) jointly influence college English teachers' willingness to adopt (WTA) GenAI. Data were collected from 335 university English teachers in China and analyzed using structural equation modeling. The results show that perceived usefulness and information quality are significant predictors of WTA, whereas perceived ease of use and CA do not exert significant direct effects. More importantly, CA exhibits a conditional moderating role. It significantly weakens the positive relationship between information quality and WTA. This finding suggests that under high levels of perceived professional threat, teachers may rely less on rational evaluation of AI-generated content and instead prioritize rapid adaptation. This study extends the TAM by integrating informational and psychological factors and reveals the selective boundary conditions of CA in artificial intelligence adoption.