Fun and Task Matters? Smart Sustainable Education Comparative Research under the Influence of Enjoyment and Task-Technology in China and South Korea

The advancement of smart technologies has driven the evolution of sustainable education. As key nations in East Asia, China and South Korea are actively fostering sustainable behaviour among university students through smart education initiatives. This study develops and empirically tests a theoretical framework that integrates perceived enjoyment and task-technology fit to examine the impact of smart education on learners’ sustainable behaviour, grounded in the stimulus-organism-response model. Data were collected via a questionnaire survey of university students in China (n = 409) and South Korea (n = 306), and analyzed using partial least squares structural equation modelling with a comparative approach. The findings reveal that: (1) smart education exerts a significant positive influence on both learners’ behavioural intention and sustainable behaviour; (2) behavioural intention partially mediates the relationship between smart education and sustainable behaviour; and (3) task-technology fit exhibits a weak negative moderating effect on the link between smart education and behavioural intention in China, whereas perceived enjoyment demonstrates a similar negative moderating effect in South Korea. Furthermore, the study indicates that the impact of smart education on behavioural intention is stronger in China than in South Korea, highlighting cultural differences in the underlying moderating mechanisms. These results offer cross-cultural empirical support for the theoretical design and practical implementation of smart education to promote sustainable development. Specifically, in China, emphasis should be placed on aligning educational tasks with appropriate technologies, while in South Korea, balancing the entertainment value and rigor of educational content is recommended.