How Artificial Intelligence Literacy Shapes Academic Motivation: The Mediating Role of Self-Efficacy Among Indonesian Undergraduates

Abstract

The use of Artificial Intelligence (AI) in higher education has rapidly increased due to its perceived benefits in enhancing learning and task efficiency. However, not all students possess adequate AI literacy to use it effectively, which could contribute to dependency on technology. Thus, this study aims to investigate the mediating role of self-efficacy between AI literacy and academic motivation in university students. Adopting a non-experimental quantitative design, data were collected using an online survey from 430 undergraduate students at universities in Indonesia through convenience sampling. Participants completed questionnaires assessing AI literacy (AIL), self-efficacy (SE), and academic motivation (AM). Mediation analysis with 95% bias-corrected confidence intervals in JASP revealed that AIL has a significant indirect effect on AM through SE. However, the direct effect of AIL to AM also remains significant. The results suggest partial mediation, with the indirect path accounting for 34.4% of the model. The findings of this study also indicate complementary mediation, in which the direct and indirect effects are both significant and point in the same direction. This paper aims to increase awareness of AI literacy in higher education, emphasizing the need for educational interventions in institutions that teach students how to interact with AI healthily. However, a limitation of this study is that AI literacy evolves rapidly, and a more refined AI literacy measurement may emerge. Moreover, the partial mediation analysis points to the possibility of another psychological mechanism that links AIL to AM.