Generative AI in Action: Acceptance and Use Among Higher Education Staff Pre- and Post-training

The adoption of generative artificial intelligence (genAI) in higher education (HE) has led to an urgent need to foster genAI literacy among staff. Thus, we drew on a genAI introductory course for staff at a major university college in Norway to examine, through a one-group pre-/post-test design, if participation was associated with an increased genAI acceptance, i.e. intention to use genAI tools. We posed five hypotheses based on the extended Unified Theory of Acceptance and Use of Technology (UTAUT2) and the Artificial Intelligence Attitude Scale (AIAS) to explore the predictive relationship between pre- and post-course genAI acceptance, the moderating effects of demographic and experiential variables, and changes in the underlying factors of genAI acceptance over time. Through PLS-SEM we discovered that Habit and AI attitudes were significant predictors of genAI acceptance at the beginning (T1), but that none of the examined variables significantly predicted genAI acceptance at the end of the course (T2). Behavioral intentions at T1 did not significantly predict Behavioral intentions at T2, either. However, the UTAUT2 factors combined with AI attitudes explained 79.5% of the variance in genAI acceptance at T1 and 82.4% at T2. Neither gender, age, experience with genAI, nor teaching position moderated the relationship between genAI acceptance at T1 and T2. Last, but not least we found a significant and large increase in genAI use from T1 to T2. Similarly, all UTAUT2 predictor variables significantly increased while AI attitudes did not. Our study is the first to implement a pre-/post-test design utilizing the UTAUT2 framework among HE staff. Our findings suggest that course participation is associated with changes in prior acceptance and intention patterns, potentially reducing disparities in familiarity and use, thereby facilitating professional development within a collegial community. Our novel results have implications for future research and HE institutional professional development worldwide.