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Master’s Thesis Analyses AI Acceptance Among MBA Students in the Netherlands

https://www.wittenborg.eu/masters-thesis-analyses-ai-acceptance-among-mba-students-netherlands.htm

Research by Enes Karaboga Shows Perceived Usefulness as Key Driver of Acceptance

As Artificial Intelligence (AI) evolves and brings groundbreaking changes to education and business, students must adapt and prepare for the future. To better understand how they are navigating this shift, Wittenborg graduate Enes Karaboga, originally from Turkey, wrote his master’s thesis on AI acceptance among Master of Business Administration (MBA) students in the Netherlands. 

“As future business leaders, MBA students need to understand AI to improve their decision-making and efficiency. I also chose this topic to connect my academic learning with real-world business needs,” says Karaboga, who recently completed an MBA in Data Analytics. 

His study is based on the Technology Acceptance Model 2 (TAM2), an improved version of the original Technology Acceptance Model (TAM), that incorporates social influences, including factors such as subjective norms, image, job relevance, output quality and result demonstrability. As such, the newer model goes beyond the original, which focused specifically on technology-related factors rather than broader behavioural aspects. 

To gather data for this research, Karaboga relied on a survey that was administered to 79 Wittenborg MBA students. Among other topics, the questions explored how useful and easy respondents find AI tools, whether their classmates and lecturers encourage their use, how relevant and reliable students consider AI for academic tasks, and whether those who use AI technologies are seen as more innovative. 

The study finds that the main factor driving students to adopt AI is its perceived usefulness, whether for research, writing or decision-making. The respondents were less likely to be influenced by peers or lecturers.  

“MBA students appeared to base acceptance on their own evaluations instead of external pressures. On a similar note, the research indicates that MBA students might not consider AI to be a status-enhancing element in academic settings. This contrasts with workplace studies. There, subjective norms often play a larger role because of company policies and expectations. Additionally, the pressure to use AI by colleagues often amplifies the effect of peer behaviour in work environments,” Karaboga explains. 

The graduate highlights that researching Artificial Intelligence and its adoption is highly enjoyable, adding that it will be a key area of research in the near future. “I encourage all students to become familiar with AI, as it will greatly impact their careers. In the future, I plan to integrate AI tools into my workplace to streamline tasks, improve decision-making and enhance overall efficiency.” 

Karaboga encourages students working on theses and graduation assignments to organise their ideas clearly, focusing on practical outcomes and making sure their research is relevant to both their studies and future careers. “In other words, the projects they are going after should have potential implications in both school and business,” he concludes. 

WUP 30/06/2025 
by Ulisses Sawczuk 
©WUAS Press 

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