Understanding University Students’ Acceptance and Use of Fragmented Academic Reading: An Extension of the UTAUT2 Model

With the global rise of digital education, fragmented academic reading has attracted increasing attention, as an emerging learning mode among university students in various countries. This study explores the factors influencing university students’ acceptance and use of fragmented academic reading through a comprehensive framework that integrates the Unified Theory of Acceptance and Use Behavior of Technology 2 (UTAUT2) with several key individual factors, including utilization of fragmented time, self-efficacy, and reading habit. 395 valid samples were collected from Chinese undergraduates through a well-structured online questionnaire survey, and the Structural Equation Modeling with Analysis of Moment Structures software were used to test the hypotheses. The results revealed that effort expectancy, utilization of fragmented time, and facilitating conditions positively affected university students’ behavioral intentions, with facilitating conditions exerting the most potent effect, and especially among science and engineering students. Nonetheless, the impact of performance expectancy and social influence differs across ages, genders, and disciplines; primarily, intentions of female, senior and humanities and social sciences students are positively affected. Moreover, behavioral intention, self-efficacy, and reading habit significantly affected university students’ use behaviors. Furthermore, self-efficacy can positively moderate the relationship between the utilization of fragmented time and behavioral intention, and the relationship between reading habit and use behaviors. This study contributes to the literature on traditional academic reading and general fragmented reading, extends the scope of the UTAUT2 model to informal reading settings, and provides valuable insights for guiding university students’ learning behaviors.