Digital technology is essential in enabling Generation Z (Gen Z) students to continue learning beyond the classroom through informal learning. The duality of digital technology effectively engages and supports Gen Z students in their learning, and it also fosters procrastination behavior due to the self-regulated digital environment. Research on the relationship between both ends of digital technology and its effect on learning from the perspective of Gen Z in the AI era is limited. This study integrates perspectives from two widely accepted frameworks, the technology acceptance model and personal motivation factors, to investigate Gen Z students’ dichotomy relationship between engagement in digital technology and procrastination behavior.

A sample of 391 students from a local university responded to the survey. Descriptive statistics, factor analysis, and structural equation models were applied to analyze the data. The results show that most Gen Z students are receptive to new and innovative technology, while their perceptions and attitudes towards technology usage are not significant. These findings could be attributed to Gen Z students’ accustomization to the technology environment and were consistent with their characteristics. Further, the study observed that Gen Z students heightened personal motivation is associated with an increased likelihood of procrastination, which positively and indirectly influences technology usage. This is a significant finding as it diverged from previously established knowledge between motivation and procrastination and unveiled a novel insight into Gen Z students’ counterintuitive learning behavior. Hence, this insight underscores the need for future studies to reevaluate existing theories and investigate the interplay between motivation factors and procrastination tendencies to explain Gen Z’s learning behavior.