The Impact of AI-Powered Ad Customization: Exploring the Impact of Engagement, Psychological Ownership, Responsibility, and Attitude on Behavioral Intentions

In today’s ad-saturated environment, consumers are increasingly overwhelmed by irrelevant advertisements and often seek ways to avoid them. In response, companies have focused on delivering ads that better match individual preferences, primarily through firm-initiated personalization. Although ads customized by consumers themselves may be more effective, their use has been limited by practical and technological constraints. Advances in artificial intelligence and digital platforms, however, have begun to make such user-driven customization more feasible. Yet, because these capabilities are still emerging, both industry applications and academic research in this area remain limited, highlighting the need for empirical research on how and why customization enhances consumer responses. This research explores how consumer-initiated ad customization influences advertising effectiveness, focusing on behavioral intention and its psychological mechanisms. Across four studies, we find that customization enhances behavioral intention via a serial path through psychological ownership, responsibility, and attitude, moderated by engagement. These findings highlight the psychological processes in shaping responses to customized ads and offer insights into how consumers interact with such ads, especially in rapidly changing digital environments.