Consumer Acceptance of High-Autonomy AI Assistants Is Driven by Perceived Benefits in Online Shopping Settings Characterized by Scarcity

Source: Psychology & Marketing (Frank, Folwarczny, Otterbring) · 2025-10-28 · publisher abstract only

Across one behavioral field experiment and four controlled online experiments with almost 2000 US and UK shoppers, the current research investigates the role of perceived benefits in driving consumer acceptance of highly autonomous artificial intelligence (AI), while also examining whether contextual factors, such as scarcity, influence this relationship. A Google Ads campaign revealed higher click‐through rates for high‐autonomy (vs. low‐autonomy) AI shopping assistants (Study 1). Scarcity amplified the perceived advantages of high‐autonomy AI (Studies 2A‐3B), whereas perceived benefits emerged as a central driver of adoption intentions of highly autonomous AI in scarcity‐related contexts (Studies 3A‐B). These findings replicate across study designs, settings, and outcomes, leveraging a novel contribution to the literature by shifting the focus from consumers’ personal sense of power to perceived benefits as pivotal drivers of AI acceptance. Managerially, the results suggest that firms can boost adoption of high‐autonomy AI by emphasizing benefits, particularly experiential ones, in marketing communications efforts of AI systems, especially in settings characterized by scarcity.