This study investigates the perception-to-purchase journey by examining how consumer artificial intelligence (AI) literacy influences the effectiveness of AI-generated sponsored vlogs, an emerging digital marketing format. Using survey data from 413 consumers and structural equation modeling, we develop and test the AI Literacy Perception-Decision Model (ALPDM). Results show that AI literacy affects information adoption through three pathways: emotional value, information usefulness, and source credibility. Multi-group analysis further indicates that AI literacy directly influences purchase intention for experiential services but requires full mediation through information adoption for tangible products. The ALPDM framework advances marketing theory by establishing the complete chain—AI literacy → perceived value → information adoption → purchase intention—demonstrating how technological competence evolves from a cost barrier into a cognitive resource that shifts source credibility evaluation from peripheral to central processing. For practitioners, the findings suggest differentiated strategies: Marketers of experiential services should emphasize anthropomorphic elements, whereas marketers of tangible products should prioritize technological transparency to foster consumer trust.
Liu et al. (Mon,) studied this question.