The study explores how consumer buying behavior is influenced by artificial intelligence (AI) personalization, with a specific focus on responsible and sustainability-aligned digital marketing. Using an explanatory sequential mixed-methods design, the study analyzes a quantitative survey and qualitative interviews. Results show that purchase behavior is strongly affected by exposure to AI messages—especially when recommendations are relevant, timely, and emotionally appealing—and by trust in AI, while perceived lack of trust inhibits purchasing. Qualitative findings underscore affective responses alongside ethical concerns, perceived transparency, and perceived control over data. Overall, the study shows that effective personalization depends not only on algorithmic sophistication but also on users’ sense of relevance and autonomy and on ethical data governance. The conclusions highlight sustainability-consistent implications for marketers: increase data transparency, segment customers by privacy sensitivity, and adopt accountable, consent-based personalization to build durable trust and loyalty. Future research should examine longitudinal effects and cultural differences, acknowledging limits of small purposive qualitative samples for generalization and exploring how consumer trust, ethical perceptions, and responses to AI personalization evolve over time.
Alsaffarini et al. (2026) studied this question.