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Impact of Generative AI Awareness on Accounting Students’ Academic Research Skills in Nigerian Polytechnics

Abstract

The emergence of generative artificial intelligence has created new opportunities for students to access information, generate ideas, organize academic materials, and support research activities. Generative AI awareness provides students with knowledge of how AI tools function, their appropriate academic uses, their limitations, and the need for responsible verification of AI-generated information. However, inadequate awareness may limit students’ ability to use these technologies effectively during academic research. This study examines the impact of generative AI awareness on accounting students’ academic research skills in Nigerian polytechnics. The study is aimed at determining whether awareness of generative AI improves students’ ability to identify research problems, search for relevant information, organize academic materials, evaluate sources, and communicate research findings. Generative AI awareness involves students’ understanding of AI-powered tools capable of generating text, ideas, summaries, explanations, and other forms of content in response to user instructions. Awareness education can expose students to appropriate uses of generative AI in academic research, including brainstorming research ideas, developing search strategies, improving the organization of information, and supporting academic writing. It can also help students understand the importance of checking AI-generated information, recognizing inaccurate or unsupported content, maintaining academic integrity, and using AI as a research support tool rather than a substitute for independent academic judgment. Academic research skills refer to students’ ability to identify researchable problems, formulate objectives and questions, locate relevant literature, evaluate information sources, organize evidence, analyze information, and communicate research findings appropriately. These skills are essential to accounting students because academic research requires the systematic collection, evaluation, and application of relevant information. Generative AI awareness may strengthen these skills by helping students understand how AI tools can support different stages of the research process while encouraging them to verify information and apply independent judgment. Students with greater awareness may therefore be better positioned to use generative AI responsibly and effectively during academic research. The study will adopt a survey research design. The population will consist of Accounting Education students in selected Nigerian polytechnics, from which an appropriate sample will be selected using a suitable sampling procedure. Data will be collected through a structured questionnaire designed to measure students’ awareness of generative AI and their academic research skills. The instrument will be subjected to appropriate validity and reliability procedures before administration. Data collected will be analyzed using descriptive statistics and an appropriate inferential statistical technique to determine the impact of generative AI awareness on students’ academic research skills. The study is expected to establish that generative AI awareness has a positive impact on accounting students’ academic research skills. Students with greater awareness of generative AI are expected to demonstrate stronger abilities in identifying research problems, locating relevant information, organizing research materials, evaluating sources, and communicating academic findings. The study may further establish that understanding both the capabilities and limitations of generative AI helps students use these technologies more effectively while maintaining independent evaluation of academic information. The findings are expected to have implications for the teaching and learning of Accounting Education in polytechnics. Accounting lecturers may need to introduce students to responsible and academically appropriate applications of generative AI within research-related courses and project activities. Practical exercises involving research topic development, information evaluation, literature organization, and academic writing may help students understand how generative AI can support research without replacing critical thinking. Greater awareness may also encourage students to verify AI-generated information and maintain appropriate standards of academic integrity. The study is expected to be significant to accounting students, lecturers, polytechnic management, curriculum developers, research supervisors, and other stakeholders in accounting education. Students may benefit from improved understanding of how generative AI can be applied to academic research, while lecturers and supervisors may gain insight into the need to guide students in responsible AI use. Curriculum developers may use the findings to strengthen digital research skills and AI-related competencies within Accounting Education programmes. The study may also contribute to preparing graduates who can combine accounting knowledge with emerging technologies in academic and professional environments. The study recommends that Nigerian polytechnics should incorporate generative AI awareness into relevant Accounting Education and research-related courses. Lecturers should provide students with practical guidance on appropriate AI use, information verification, source evaluation, academic integrity, and responsible research practices. Students should be encouraged to develop independent research and critical-thinking skills while using generative AI as a supporting tool. The study concludes that effective generative AI awareness can contribute to improving accounting students’ academic research skills and preparing them for responsible use of emerging technologies in academic and professional settings.

Keywords: Generative AI Awareness, Accounting Students, Academic Research Skills, Generative Artificial Intelligence, Artificial Intelligence Education, Academic Research, Research Competence, Digital Research Skills, Information Evaluation, Research Writing, Critical Thinking, Academic Integrity, AI Literacy, Research Skills, Accounting Education