Between a Bot and a Hard Place: Student Engagement, Technology Anxiety and ChatGPT Trust in Higher Education

While studies have explored factors influencing ChatGPT’s adoption and impact in Higher Education (HE), they have not yet considered how student engagement, technology anxiety, attitudes toward AI and trust interact—key elements shaping students’ effective usage of AI tools. To address this gap, we surveyed a nationwide sample of 422 Greek HE students of various disciplines who completed the Short Utrecht Work Engagement Scale-Student Form, the Abbreviated Technology Anxiety Scale, the ChatGPT Trust Scale and measures of academic usage and attitudes. Student engagement was positively associated with AI attitudes, ChatGPT trust and usage frequency. Technology anxiety was a barrier to adoption, negatively related to AI attitudes while moderating the relationship between trust and usage. Trust predicted usage, perceived usefulness and engagement. Cluster analysis identified two user typologies: high-engagement users, who reported greater trust, confidence and diverse academic ChatGPT applications and low-engagement users, who exhibited lower ChatGPT reliance and received less institutional guidance on AI. The findings point to the need for institutional AI literacy initiatives and structured support.