{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,8,3]],"date-time":"2026-08-03T11:45:09Z","timestamp":1785757509922,"version":"3.56.0"},"reference-count":49,"publisher":"MDPI AG","issue":"8","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2026,8,3]],"date-time":"2026-08-03T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1785715200000},"content-version":"vor","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0\/"}],"content-domain":{"domain":[],"crossmark-restriction":false},"short-container-title":["Behav. Sci.","Behavioral Sciences"],"abstract":"<jats:p>AI-targeted advertising has become central to consumer-facing marketing, yet it does not directly persuade consumers to purchase experiential products. This study proposes a cognitive scaffolding framework, arguing that AI advertising supports consumers\u2019 autonomous value construction rather than directly generating purchase motivation. Using SEM with 412 Korean consumers in cultural experience tourism, the results show that AI advertising has no direct association with purchase intention. Instead, its association operates sequentially through perceived value and trust. Moreover, the value\u2013purchase intention relationship is stronger among consumers with higher AI utilization. Complementary fsQCA shows that no single condition\u2014including advertising effectiveness\u2014is individually necessary for high purchase intention. A configurational analysis identifies a dominant sufficient path in which perceived value combines with AI utilization and does not require advertising effectiveness, alongside two secondary paths in which advertising effectiveness operates only in conjunction with other conditions. This pattern is consistent with a reconceptualization of AI advertising as one of several substitutable cognitive scaffolding inputs, interpretable as supporting rather than driving consumers\u2019 autonomous value construction\u2014a claim advanced as specific to experiential consumption contexts rather than as a general account of AI-mediated trust formation.<\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.3390\/bs16081325","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2026,8,3]],"date-time":"2026-08-03T10:24:07Z","timestamp":1785752647000},"page":"1325","update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.3390\/mdpi_crossmark_policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":0,"title":["Does AI Advertising Persuade or Scaffold? Consumer Cognitive Pathways in AI-Mediated Experiential Consumption"],"prefix":"10.3390","volume":"16","author":[{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0009-0007-3447-5214","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Jung-eun","family":"Bae","sequence":"first","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Business Administration, Pusan National University, Busan 46241, Republic of Korea"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]}],"member":"1968","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2026,8,3]]},"reference":[{"key":"ref_1","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"734","DOI":"10.1109\/TKDE.2005.99","article-title":"Toward the next generation of recommender systems","volume":"17","author":"Adomavicius","year":"2005","journal-title":"IEEE Transactions on Knowledge and Data Engineering"},{"key":"ref_2","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"179","DOI":"10.1016\/0749-5978(91)90020-T","article-title":"The theory of planned behavior","volume":"50","author":"Ajzen","year":"1991","journal-title":"Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes"},{"key":"ref_3","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"411","DOI":"10.1037\/0033-2909.103.3.411","article-title":"Structural equation modeling in practice: A review and recommended two-step approach","volume":"103","author":"Anderson","year":"1988","journal-title":"Psychological Bulletin"},{"key":"ref_4","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"238","DOI":"10.1037\/0033-2909.107.2.238","article-title":"Comparative fit indexes in structural models","volume":"107","author":"Bentler","year":"1990","journal-title":"Psychological Bulletin"},{"key":"ref_5","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"Bilgihan, A., Lorenz, M. 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