Journal of Applied Artificial Intelligence in Education
Vol 1, No 2 (2026): January 2026

Affective Dynamics and Ethics of AI Use among Higher Education Students: A PLS-SEM Study

Nabilah Auliah Rahman (Unknown)
Melda Auliyah Zakina (Unknown)
Aprilianti Nirmala S (Unknown)
Saipul Abbas (Unknown)



Article Info

Publish Date
05 Jan 2026

Abstract

The use of artificial intelligence (AI) in higher education is increasing rapidly, raising questions about how emotional well-being, AI credibility, and AI interaction quality shape students’ affective engagement and ethical awareness. This study employs a quantitative cross-sectional design and analyzes data using Partial Least Squares Structural Equation Modeling (PLS-SEM). The results show that emotional well-being (β = 0.549, p < 0.001) and AI interaction quality (β = 0.420, p < 0.001) significantly affect affective engagement, while AI credibility has no significant effect (β = –0.045, p = 0.342). Affective engagement significantly influences ethical awareness (β = 0.597, p < 0.001) and mediates the effects of emotional well-being and interaction quality. The model explains substantial variance in affective engagement (R² = 0.561) and moderate variance in ethical awareness (R² = 0.357). These findings highlight the importance of emotional and interactional factors in fostering ethical awareness and support the need for human-centered and ethically grounded AI integration in education.

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Journal Info

Abbrev

JAAIE

Publisher

Subject

Computer Science & IT Education Social Sciences Other

Description

The Journal of Applied Artificial Intelligence in Education (JAAIE) is an open-access scholarly journal focusing on the practical applications of Artificial Intelligence (AI) in educational settings. It welcomes original contributions that explore the real-world implementation of AI to improve ...