{"title":"Navigating the perceived credibility and adoption of AI-generated review summaries in online shopping: An affordance perspective","authors":"Mingxia Jia , Yuxiang Zhao Chris , Xiaoyu Zhang","doi":"10.1016/j.ipm.2025.104404","DOIUrl":null,"url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>As generative AI (GenAI) advances, e-commerce platforms increasingly leverage AI-generated review summaries to facilitate consumer decision-making. However, given the experience-driven nature of online review consumption, whether consumers perceive these summaries as credible, useful, and adoptable remains a key challenge to their effective implementation. Therefore, using affordance actualization theory, we conducted a scenario-based experiment and survey to analyze the quantitative data from 713 consumers (N_search product = 356, N_experience product = 357) regarding their perceptions of AI-generated review summaries. The findings show that functional affordances (algorithmic transparency, understandability, and convenience) and symbolic expressions (conveyed values and meanings) toward AI-generated review summaries play important roles in shaping consumers’ perceived credibility. Among them, algorithmic transparency, meaning conveyed, and understandability were identified as strong predictors. Perceived credibility further predicts perceived helpfulness, which, in turn, motivates users’ intentions to adopt AI-generated review summaries and contribute to consumer reviews. Interestingly, these influence pathways differ significantly depending on whether the product is a search or an experience product. This study provides an empirical investigation into the pathway from affordance to actualized belief and behavioral intention in the AI-generated review summaries context and offers practical insights for its effective application in AI-powered marketing.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":50365,"journal":{"name":"Information Processing & Management","volume":"63 2","pages":"Article 104404"},"PeriodicalIF":6.9000,"publicationDate":"2025-09-18","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":"0","resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":null,"PeriodicalName":"Information Processing & Management","FirstCategoryId":"94","ListUrlMain":"https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0306457325003450","RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"管理学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":null,"EPubDate":"","PubModel":"","JCR":"Q1","JCRName":"COMPUTER SCIENCE, INFORMATION SYSTEMS","Score":null,"Total":0}
引用次数: 0
Abstract
As generative AI (GenAI) advances, e-commerce platforms increasingly leverage AI-generated review summaries to facilitate consumer decision-making. However, given the experience-driven nature of online review consumption, whether consumers perceive these summaries as credible, useful, and adoptable remains a key challenge to their effective implementation. Therefore, using affordance actualization theory, we conducted a scenario-based experiment and survey to analyze the quantitative data from 713 consumers (N_search product = 356, N_experience product = 357) regarding their perceptions of AI-generated review summaries. The findings show that functional affordances (algorithmic transparency, understandability, and convenience) and symbolic expressions (conveyed values and meanings) toward AI-generated review summaries play important roles in shaping consumers’ perceived credibility. Among them, algorithmic transparency, meaning conveyed, and understandability were identified as strong predictors. Perceived credibility further predicts perceived helpfulness, which, in turn, motivates users’ intentions to adopt AI-generated review summaries and contribute to consumer reviews. Interestingly, these influence pathways differ significantly depending on whether the product is a search or an experience product. This study provides an empirical investigation into the pathway from affordance to actualized belief and behavioral intention in the AI-generated review summaries context and offers practical insights for its effective application in AI-powered marketing.
期刊介绍:
Information Processing and Management is dedicated to publishing cutting-edge original research at the convergence of computing and information science. Our scope encompasses theory, methods, and applications across various domains, including advertising, business, health, information science, information technology marketing, and social computing.
We aim to cater to the interests of both primary researchers and practitioners by offering an effective platform for the timely dissemination of advanced and topical issues in this interdisciplinary field. The journal places particular emphasis on original research articles, research survey articles, research method articles, and articles addressing critical applications of research. Join us in advancing knowledge and innovation at the intersection of computing and information science.