ORIGINAL RESEARCH article
Front. Educ.
Sec. Higher Education
This article is part of the Research TopicResearch Ethics and Integrity in the Artificial Intelligence EraView all 11 articles
AI Use in Academic Research: Examining the Mediating Effect of User Experience and the Moderating Effect of Disciplinary Context on Perceived Integrity
Provisionally accepted
- Mogadishu University, Mogadishu, Somalia
Select one of your emails
You have multiple emails registered with Frontiers:
Notify me on publication
Please enter your email address:
If you already have an account, please login
You don't have a Frontiers account ? You can register here
The study investigates academic researchers' use of AI in higher education research, drawing on the Unified Theory of Acceptance and Use of Technology (UTAUT) and integrity-trust frameworks. It examines the mediating effect of user experience and the moderating effect of disciplinary context on perceived integrity. A quantitative cross-sectional design was employed, collecting data via questionnaire from a sample of 100 academic researchers and lecturers across universities in Mogadishu, Somalia. Data analysis using SPSS and JAMOVI (PROCESS macro) involved correlation, mediation (bootstrapping), and moderation analyses. The overall trend in the findings suggests a positive, and growing, acceptance of AI for academic research as researchers believe it helps them produce better research outcomes. User experience mediates significantly the relationship between AI use and perceived integrity but disciplinary context does not moderate this relationship. Though perceived integrity is generally high, the researchers have some concerns about the reliability and ethical use of AI in research.
Keywords: academic research, AI use, Mediating User Experience, Moderating Disciplinary Context, Perceived integrity
Received: 23 Sep 2025; Accepted: 17 Dec 2025.
Copyright: © 2025 Abubakar and Adan. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
* Correspondence: Said Abubakar
Disclaimer: All claims expressed in this article are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of their affiliated organizations, or those of the publisher, the editors and the reviewers. Any product that may be evaluated in this article or claim that may be made by its manufacturer is not guaranteed or endorsed by the publisher.