Adoption of ChatGPT in higher education: a systematic literature review of lecturers’ perspective based on UTAUT2

Purpose This review article investigates the factors influencing ChatGPT adoption in higher education, with a primary focus on lecturers’ perspectives. Design/methodology/approach A total of 73 articles published between 2018 and 2024 were identified through databases such as ScienceDirect, Springer, Emerald, and Google Scholar. Using the PRISMA method, 41 studies were selected for thematic synthesis. Findings The review highlights key motivators for adoption, including enhanced teaching experience, easy accessibility and decreasing teaching workload. Barriers include concerns about impact on lecturer authority, quality and accuracy issues, data privacy and security and academic integrity concerns. Adoption is influenced by moderators such as age, academic discipline and prior experience with technology. The findings emphasize the need for universities to provide targeted training, ethical guidelines and supportive policies to enable responsible and effective use of ChatGPT in teaching. Originality/value While most existing studies emphasize student usage, this article addresses a research gap by exploring lecturers’ experiences and intentions using the UTAUT2 framework. By centering on lecturers, this review offers novel insights into the academic implementation of ChatGPT in higher education. This study constructs novel motivators and barriers by summarizing the supporting facts in existing studies exclusively from the lecturers’ perspective and illustrates how each UTAUT2 factor stands upon the constructed theme, highlighting geographical and cultural variations, thematic relationships, country-specific findings and emerging and underrepresented contributions related to ChatGPT adoption, which is underexplored.