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Understanding university students' AI ethical decision-making in academic contexts: a SOR - social cognitive
Hao Deng1,2, Minli Yang3, Liling Huang2
1Faculty of Education, Guangxi Normal University, Guilin, Guangxi, China.
Frontiers in Psychology
|August 7, 2026
Summary
This study reveals that both AI ethics guidance and academic ethics courses significantly improve students' AI ethical decision-making. Moral cognition acts as a key mediator, while cognitive complexity enhances these positive effects.
Area of Science:
- Higher Education Research
- Artificial Intelligence Ethics
- Academic Integrity
Background:
- Generative AI integration in higher education impacts student practices and academic integrity.
- Limited research exists on students' AI ethical decision-making and its psychological underpinnings.
- This study investigates factors influencing ethical AI use among students.
Purpose of the Study:
- To examine the associations between AI ethics guidance, academic ethics course experience, moral cognition, cognitive complexity, and AI ethical decision-making.
- To test the mediating role of moral cognition and the moderating role of cognitive complexity.
- To identify pathways to effective AI ethical decision-making in academic contexts.
Main Methods:
- Survey data from 1,106 Chinese undergraduates.
- Partial least squares structural equation modeling (PLS-SEM) for relationship testing.
- Fuzzy-set qualitative comparative analysis (fsQCA) for configurational pathways.
Main Results:
- AI ethics guidance and academic ethics courses positively predicted AI ethical decision-making.
- Moral cognition mediated the relationship between normative inputs and AI ethical decision-making.
- Cognitive complexity moderated the influence of normative inputs on AI ethical decision-making, with the model explaining 66.3% of the variance.
Conclusions:
- Findings advance academic integrity research by focusing on decision quality and moral cognition's role.
- AI ethics guidance and ethics courses are crucial for fostering students' ethical AI decision-making.
- Interventions should leverage both technological prompts and formal ethics education.
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