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Abstract
When students face academic challenges that extend beyond their control, seeking help from external resources serves as a strategic approach to overcoming obstacles. The rapid development of GenAI tools has led to the widespread use by college students for help-seeking purposes. In the meantime, however, there have been numerous reported concerns from teachers, students, and researchers regarding the ethical implications. As digital technologies increasingly permeate educational environments, understanding students’ perceptions and actual use of AI-powered assistance tools for academic help-seeking purposes becomes imperative. This study used ChatGPT as a representative GenAI tool and explored how undergraduate students perceived and used the tool for academic help-seeking purposes, informed by the Unified Theory of Acceptance and Use of Technology 2 (UTAUT2) framework. Through Q methodology, a mixed-method design with a pre-study survey and a post-study interview, this study identified three distinctive perspectives and students’ primary uses of ChatGPT for help-seeking purposes. The study also outlined the factors that affected undergraduate students’ use of ChatGPT, both positively and negatively. The findings of this study contributed to theoretical advancements in the UTAUT2 framework and provided practical implications for investigating AI-driven support systems in higher education settings.