Functional vs Ethical Drivers in Generative AI Adoption: A PLS-SEM Study in Business Education

This study examined the factors influencing the use of ChatGPT by university students enrolled in business and management programs, considering the simultaneous effect of their functional perceptions and ethical or academic concerns. Using a structural equation modeling approach (PLS-SEM) applied to a sample of 118 students in Chile, the study found that functional perceptions, such as efficiency, clarity, and cognitive support, exert a positive and significant effect on the use of the tool. By contrast, concerns related to technological dependency, reliability of responses, and academic authorship showed no significant effect on either perception or usage. These findings reveal a functionalist adoption logic in which ethical judgment and pedagogical risks do not act as meaningful barriers. This study contributes to the literature by simultaneously integrating enabling and inhibiting factors into a single explanatory model and providing empirical evidence from a Latin American context. It concludes that there is a pressing need to develop pedagogical and institutional frameworks that foster critical literacy in the use of generative artificial intelligence, particularly in disciplines in which strategic judgment and ethical responsibility are core competencies. These findings should be interpreted within the context of a single Chilean institution and are not intended for statistical generalization.