Glory or darkness? An empirical examination of understanding users’ adoption of ChatGPT via the coping theory: the moderating effect of mindfulness

Based on the coping theory and coping model of user adaptation, this research explores the impact of users’ ChatGPT technostress on cognitive appraisal, coping process, and behaviour. A survey using Amazon’s Mechanical Turk was developed to collect data on 10 occupations that may be replaced by ChatGPT in the U.S., with a total of 277 actual ChatGPT users. This study employs the software SmartPLS4.2 to evaluate the measurement model and the structural model. The results show that concerns over coolness and posthuman capabilities significantly affect users’ challenge appraisal of ChatGPT, whereas privacy, ethics, and security concerns significantly impact users’ threat appraisal of ChatGPT. Challenge and threat appraisals have a significantly positive impact on users’ problem-focused coping and emotion-focused coping, which themselves significantly predict users’ continuous use of ChatGPT. Mindfulness negatively moderates the influence on emotion-focused coping and continued use intention after ChatGPT adoption. The main theoretical contributions of this research include investigating users’ ChatGPT technostress and coping process by professional workers who may be replaced by ChatGPT. The evidence regarding the moderating role of mindfulness presented herein is novel, because the relationship between coping strategies and continued behaviour intention has not been previously examined.