Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to investigate undergraduate nursing students' use of mobile learning (m-learning) and the factors contributing to their use of m-learning. Design/methodology/approach: In total, 586 nursing students from three universities in Ghana participated in this study. Survey questionnaires were used to collect data. Descriptive statistics, sample t-test and multiple regression were used to analyze the data. Findings: The research found that most students owned smartphones. Mobile technology was mainly used for doing homework. The result indicates that gender differences exist in terms of perceived usefulness of m-learning. In addition, age differences exist with regard to the perceived ease of use of m-learning. Furthermore, students showed positive attitudes toward the use of technology. Finally, perceived usefulness and attitudes toward the use of technology predicted students' intention to use m-learning. Originality/value: Despite the abundance of research on nursing education in other countries, there is a lack of research on nursing students' use of m-learning and factors influencing their implementation of m-learning in higher learning institutions in Ghana. This study is important because it provides a clear description of nursing students' use of m-learning and factors affecting their use in schools. Also, the author suggests that information from this study assists school administrators and nursing educators to understand students' positions regarding m-learning in classroom.