AI as decision aid or delegated agent: The effects of trust dimensions on the adoption of AI digital agents

AI digital agents may act as decision-aid or as delegated agents. A decision-aid agent helps a user make decisions, whereas a delegated agent makes decisions on behalf of the consumer. The study determines the factors affecting the adoption intention of AI digital agents as decision aids and delegated agents. The domain of study is banking, financial services, and Insurance sector (BFSI). Due to the unique characteristics of AI digital agents, trust has been identified as an important construct in the extant literature. The study decomposed trust into social, cognitive, and affective trust. We incorporated PLS-SEM and fsQCA to examine the factors drawn from the literature. The findings from PLS-SEM suggest that perceived AI quality affects cognitive trust, perceived usefulness affects affective trust, and social trust affects cognitive and affective trust. The intention to adopt AI as a decision-aid is influenced by affective and cognitive trust. The intention to adopt AI as delegated agents is influenced by social, cognitive, and affective trust. FsQCA findings indicate that combining AI quality, perceived usefulness, and trust (social, cognitive, and affective) best explains the intention to adopt AI as a decision aid and delegated agents. • Trust is being explored using cognitive, affective, and social trust. • Social trust affects the cognitive and affective trust of a user. • Artificial intelligence (AI) service quality affects cognitive trust. • The perceived usefulness of digital agents impacts affective trust. • The study used PLS-SEM and fsQCA for the data analysis.