Developing Students’ Ethical Reasoning and Cyber Responsibility through Generative AI- Driven Learning Tasks

Abstract The rapid integration of generative artificial intelligence (GenAI) into higher education has heightened ethical concerns related to academic integrity, responsible technology use, and cybersecurity. Despite growing interest in GenAI, empirical evidence on its role in shaping students’ ethical reasoning and cyber responsibility remains limited. Therefore, this study investigated the problem using a quantitative cross-sectional design, where data were collected from 423 undergraduate and postgraduate students enrolled in ICT-related courses. Three newly developed instruments: the Engagement with Generative AI–Driven Learning Tasks Scale, the Ethical Reasoning in Academic and Digital Contexts Scale, and the Cyber Responsibility in AI-Mediated Learning Scale developed and validated through exploratory factor analysis while descriptive statistics, Pearson correlations, and regression analyses were employed used. Results showed that engagement significantly predicted ethical reasoning, accounting for 17% of its variance, and strongly predicted cyber responsibility, explaining over 52% of the variance, while accountability emerged as the strongest ethical reasoning dimension associated with GenAI engagement. Furthermore, ethical reasoning predicted cyber responsibility. The findings suggest that well-designed GenAI-driven learning tasks can promote ethical reasoning and cyber responsibility. Implications are discussed for curriculum design, pedagogy, and policy development in AI-integrated higher education, particularly in the Global South.