The Credibility and Authenticity of AI-Based Advertising on Purchase Intention through Consumer Trust

Abstract

This study aims to investigate how content credibility and perceived authenticity influence purchase intention, specifically examining the mediating role of consumer trust in the context of AI-generated digital advertising for the online travel platform Agoda. Utilizing a quantitative explanatory design, data were collected through a stimulus-based survey of 160 purposively sampled social media users in Surabaya, who evaluated a specific AI-based Agoda advertisement prior to responding. The data were analyzed using Partial Least Squares Structural Equation Modeling (PLS-SEM). The results indicate that while content credibility and perceived authenticity do not directly affect purchase intention, they both significantly enhance consumer trust, which subsequently drives the intention to purchase. Consequently, consumer trust functions as a crucial, fully mediating psychological mechanism connecting AI ad perception to consumer behavior. Practically, these findings imply that businesses leveraging AI-generated advertising must prioritize creating transparent, credible, and authentic content to successfully build the foundational consumer trust required to stimulate actual purchase intentions.