AI anxiety and university lecturers’ assessment-design behavior: The mediating role of perceived threat to academic integrity
Published: August 26, 2026
doi:10.62831/nckh.2026.3545.v1
Abstract
This study examines how AI anxiety influences university lecturers’ adaptive assessment-design behavior, with perceived threat to academic integrity as a mediator and AI literacy and institutional support as moderators. Grounded in Technology Threat Avoidance Theory and the Transactional Model of Stress and Coping, the model was tested using PLS-SEM with data from 272 lecturers. AI anxiety positively affects perceived threat (β = 0.486) and assessment-design behavior (β = 0.305), while perceived threat positively influences behavior (β = 0.436) and partially mediates the relationship. Neither moderating effect is statistically significant. The model explains 41.2% of the variance in assessment-design behavior. The findings clarify the anxiety–coping mechanism in AI-mediated higher education and provide implications for institutional policies supporting assessment innovation.
Keywords
AI anxietyacademic integrityassessment designPLS-SEMuniversity lecturers
References
1.
Cotton, D. R. E., Cotton, P. A., & Shipway, J. R. (2024). Chatting and cheating: Ensuring academic integrity in the era of ChatGPT. Innovations in Education and Teaching International, 61(2), 228-239. https://doi.org/10.1080/14703297.2023.2190148
Johnson, D. G., & Verdicchio, M. (2017). AI anxiety. Journal of the Association for Information Science and Technology, 68(9), 2267-2270. https://doi.org/10.1002/asi.23867
Lazarus, R. S., & Folkman, S. (1984). Stress, appraisal, and coping. Springer.
4.
Liang, H., & Xue, Y. (2009). Avoidance of information technology threats: A theoretical perspective. MIS Quarterly, 33(1), 71-90. https://doi.org/10.2307/20650279
Venkatesh, V., Morris, M. G., Davis, G. B., & Davis, F. D. (2003). User acceptance of information technology: Toward a unified view. MIS Quarterly, 27(3), 425-478. https://doi.org/10.2307/30036540
Wang, Y.-Y., & Wang, Y.-S. (2022). Development and validation of an artificial intelligence anxiety scale: An initial application in predicting motivated learning behavior. Interactive Learning Environments, 30(4), 619-634. https://doi.org/10.1080/10494820.2019.1674887
Wiggins, G. (1998). Educative Assessment. Designing Assessments To Inform and Improve Student Performance. Jossey-Bass Publishers, 350 Sansome Street, San Francisco, CA 94104.
8.
Zhao, X., Lynch, J. G., & Chen, Q. (2010). Reconsidering Baron and Kenny: Myths and truths about mediation analysis. Journal of Consumer Research, 37(2), 197-206. https://doi.org/10.1086/651257
