Consumer Purchase Intentions After Seeing Ads Generated by AI: The Role of Trust and the Theory of Planned Behavior
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2025-07-02
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en
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This study investigates how consumer trust in generative artificial intelligence advertisements (GenAI ads) shapes purchase intention via the Theory of Planned Behavior (TPB). Despite the growing use of GenAI ads, prior research has focused on consumer acceptance and attitude, overlooking purchase intention. This study extended the TPB by treating trust in the GenAI ad as an antecedent to address this gap. Data were gathered via a questionnaire in which 147 participants viewed a GenAI ad and then reported their trust, TPB beliefs, and purchase intention. Partial least squares structural equation modeling revealed that higher trust in the GenAI ad led to more favorable attitudes, stronger perceived social norms, and greater perceived behavioral control. Trust also exerted a significant indirect influence on intention. In turn, both attitude and, most strongly, subjective norms predicted purchase intention, while perceived control had no significant effect. These findings show that building trust is the first step in GenAI ad campaigns, after which TPB drivers, particularly social proof, translate that trust into purchase intention. The results indicate that marketers should foreground trust-building and social proof in their GenAI ads, while future research using experimental and longitudinal designs should confirm causality and explore dynamics across product categories.
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Faculteit der Managementwetenschappen