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Purpose This paper investigates if the existing degree of students' acceptance and use of mobile or m-learning may face the online shift determined by SARS-CoV-2. Based on the extended unified theory of acceptance and use of technology (UTAUT2), a new comprehensive model, SD-UTAUT (social distancing-UTAUT), is developed to better understand relationships between the original constructs, plus personal innovativeness (PI) and information quality (IQ). It identifies the key factors affecting behavioral intention (BI) and use by examining the influence of revaluated hedonic motivation (HM) and learning value (LV) importance as mediators. Design/methodology/approach The paper opted for an exploratory study involving 311 learners, using partial least squares structural equation modeling (PLS-SEM). Findings SD-UTAUT can be a new m-learning model in higher education. It has high predictive power and confirmed 15 out of 16 hypotheses. The most powerful relationship is between performance expectancy (PE) and HM. IQ affected LV the most, since HM the behavioral use (BU). HM impacts the use behavior (UB) more than LV, but habit (HT) affects it the most. Research limitations/implications Because of the pandemic context, output may lack generalizability and reproducibility. Practical implications To improve usage, staff must provide better support, course creators emphasize the objectives and competencies and developers integrate innovation. The joy and pleasure of m-learning use may stimulate the LV through interesting and interactive content, like incorporating gamification. Originality/value The model set-up and circumstances are previously unseen. SD-UTAUT confirms ten new hypotheses and introduces the student's grade point average (GPA) as a moderator. Peer review The peer review history for this article is available at https://publons.com/publon/10.1108/OIR-01-2021-0017
Sitar‐Tăut et al. (Wed,) studied this question.