Trust and heterogeneity in GAI adoption: an integrated TAM–UTAUT–trust model among Chinese K−12 teachers

BackgroundGenerative artificial intelligence is reshaping K-12 education, yet teachers' adoption remains unbalanced and under-researched. This study integrates TAM, UTAUT, and Perceived Trust Theory to construct an adoption model for K-12 teachers' GAI adoption intention.MethodsA survey of 443 K-12 teachers from 16 prefecture-level cities in Shandong Province was conducted. PLS-SEM with bootstrapping (5,000 resamples) was employed to test direct, mediating, and moderating effects.ResultsPerforma