<![CDATA[Despite growing research on artificial intelligence (AI) adoption in teacher education, limited attention has been given to how institutional and individual factors shape AI usefulness and its role in transforming educational services. This study examined the relationships between technology readiness, leadership support, policy and infrastructure, user innovativeness, AI usefulness, and perceived service transformation among pre-service teachers. A cross-sectional survey involving 562 pre-service teachers selected through purposive sampling was conducted, and the data were analyzed using partial least squares structural equation modeling (PLS-SEM). The findings revealed that all four antecedents were significantly associated with perceived AI usefulness, with leadership support emerging as the strongest predictor. AI usefulness was positively associated with perceived service transformation and significantly mediated the relationships between all four antecedents and service transformation. These findings highlight AI usefulness as a central mechanism linking institutional readiness and individual innovativeness to perceived improvements in educational services. The study extends the Technology–Organization–Environment (TOE) framework by incorporating AI usefulness as a mediating construct in the context of educational service transformation. Practically, the findings suggest that teacher education institutions should strengthen leadership support, infrastructure, and institutional policies while integrating authentic AI-supported learning experiences that encourage pre-service teachers to critically evaluate AI's educational value]]>
