Examining Consumer Readiness for Artificial Intelligence Integration in Online Shopping

Technological advancements in retail have transformed the shopping experience, notably through e-commerce platforms like Shopee and Lazada in the Philippines. Integrating artificial intelligence (AI), such as system-generated product recommendations, enhances brand marketing potential on these platforms, leading to increased market shares. However, despite the widespread adoption of online shopping platforms, a segment of the population remains hesitant to engage with them. To address this, the study explores whether consumers' levels of technology readiness and acceptance-specifically on dimensions of technology readiness such as optimism, innovativeness, discomfort, and insecurity-affect their use perceptions, intentions, and actual usage of AI systems on platforms like Lazada and Shopee. The research employs a quantitative-causal research approach with a sample size of 308 respondents from Laguna, selected using non-probability purposive sampling. Partial least squares-structural equation modeling (PLS-SEM) was used to test the relationship between the variables. The study results indicate that consumers' levels of optimism, innovativeness, and discomfort are the only ones that significantly affect their perceived ease of use. In contrast, optimism only has a significant effect on their perceived usefulness. All this proves that all dependent variables mentioned in the study have a relationship with each other. This further proves that certain personality traits can significantly influence users' readiness and acceptance of technologies.