How Accountability-Related AI Anxiety Shapes Perceived Design Agency in Generative AI Co-Creation: Contrasting Roles of Interactivity and Output Diversity

Drawing on Cognitive Appraisal Theory and psychological ownership research, this study examines whether GenAI interactivity and output diversity are associated with purchase intention via perceived design agency and whether accountability-related AI anxiety conditions these relationships.

Study 1 involved 565 adult GenAI users in mainland China who completed a standardized product-customization task and a post-task survey; the conditional process model was tested using partial least squares structural equation modeling. Study 2 used semi-structured interviews with 12 participants to interpret the quantitative pattern. Both affordances were positively associated with perceived design agency, which in turn was associated with purchase intention.