The Role of ChatGPT in the Educational Process: The Perspective of Sociology Students
The Role of ChatGPT in the Educational Process: The Perspective of Sociology Students

Summary/Abstract: This paper examines the role of ChatGPT within higher education by integrating two theoretical frameworks: the Technology Acceptance Model (TAM) and Actor-Network Theory (ANT). Through a quantitative survey conducted among 155 sociology students across five Croatian universities, the study explores perceptions of ChatGPT’s usefulness, ease of use, trustworthiness, and adoption intentions. TAM provides a quantitative foundation for understanding students’ attitudes toward ChatGPT, while ANT enables the interpretation of ChatGPT as an active participant within educational networks. The results indicate that although students recognize ChatGPT’s potential to enhance learning efficiency (79% agreed that ChatGPT speeds up academic task completion – 49.4% strongly; 29.6% somewhat), concerns about trust (mean trust in the reliability of supporting technologies = 2.91 on a 1–5 scale), cognitive load, and limited social influence moderate its adoption. Findings highlight the importance of AI literacy, the need for institutional guidelines on ethical AI use, and the role of educational institutions in supporting responsible integration of AI technologies into academic practice. The study concludes by offering recommendations for strengthening AI adoption strategies in higher education and outlines directions for future research.

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