Challenge or threat? The double-edged sword effect of AI use on innovative teaching behavior among primary and secondary school teachers in China

With the rapid integration of artificial intelligence (AI) into educational practice, its influence on teachers’ innovative teaching behavior has attracted growing attention. However, less is known about the dual psychological mechanisms through which AI use may both facilitate and constrain teaching innovation. Drawing on the cognitive appraisal theory of stress, this study examined whether teachers’ challenge and threat appraisals mediate the relationship between AI use and innovative teaching behavior, and whether school innovation support moderates these pathways. A nationwide survey was conducted among 1275 primary and secondary school teachers in China. Data were collected using validated measures of AI use, challenge appraisal, threat appraisal, innovative teaching behavior, and school innovation support, and were analyzed through confirmatory factor analysis, structural equation modeling, and bootstrapped moderated mediation analysis. The results indicated that AI use was positively associated with both challenge appraisal and threat appraisal. In turn, challenge appraisal was positively associated with innovative teaching behavior, whereas threat appraisal was negatively associated with it. Challenge and threat appraisals both served as significant mediating pathways linking AI use to innovative teaching behavior. In addition, school innovation support moderated the effects of AI use on both appraisals: higher levels of support strengthened the positive association between AI use and challenge appraisal, but unexpectedly also amplified its association with threat appraisal. These findings highlight the double-edged nature of AI use in educational settings and suggest that cognitive appraisal is an important mechanism through which AI use relates to teachers’ innovative teaching behavior. The study further implies that schools should provide supportive conditions that encourage challenge appraisal while carefully managing the pressures that may intensify threat appraisal.