From Anthropomorphism to Purchase Intention in AI Shopping Assistant Contexts: A Three-Wave Longitudinal Moderated Mediation Study of Perceived Intelligence and General Self-Efficacy Among College Students

<title>Abstract</title> <p>Background AI shopping assistants increasingly operate as conversational decision aids in online retail. This study examined whether perceived anthropomorphism of AI shopping assistants prospectively predicts college students' purchase intention through perceived intelligence, and whether general self-efficacy strengthens the later stage of this indirect pathway. Methods This three-wave longitudinal study used cluster sampling across eight universities in Central, North, and South China. Field records indicated that 2201, 1853, and 1621 questionnaires were returned at T1, T2, and T3, respectively; after initial validity screening, 2014, 1721, and 1542 responses were retained. After de-duplicating anonymous matching codes, excluding inconsistent records, and one-to-one matching across waves, the final analytic sample included 1416 Chinese college students aged 18 years or older. At T1, perceived anthropomorphism, general self-efficacy, and baseline purchase intention were measured; at T2, perceived intelligence and purchase intention were measured; at T3, purchase intention was measured again. Reliability, confirmatory factor analysis, CR, AVE, HTMT, common method bias diagnostics, VIF, and longitudinal moderated mediation analyses were conducted. Results The four-factor model showed good fit, χ²/df = 2.440, CFI = 0.962, TLI = 0.956, RMSEA = 0.041, and SRMR = 0.036. T1 perceived anthropomorphism positively predicted T2 perceived intelligence, β = .319, p &lt; .001, and T2 perceived intelligence positively predicted T3 purchase intention, β = .344, p &lt; .001. The interaction between T2 perceived intelligence and T1 general self-efficacy was significant, β = .123, p &lt; .001. The conditional indirect effect was stronger at higher levels of general self-efficacy, and the moderated mediation index was significant, index = .075, 95% CI [.045, .106]. Conclusions Perceived anthropomorphism was prospectively associated with later purchase intention partly through perceived intelligence. The association between perceived intelligence and later purchase intention was stronger among students with higher general self-efficacy. These findings provide temporal evidence for a cognitive pathway linking humanlike AI shopping assistant cues to purchase-related intention, although causal claims should remain cautious.</p>