From value to confidence: metacognitive judgment justification in AI-supported tourism

Introduction This study investigates the cognitive judgment justification mechanism underlying consumer purchase intention formation in AI-based information environments, particularly within the experience-good context of tourism. Unlike persuasion-based perspectives, this study argues that consumers finalize decisions not when information is maximized, but when they achieve metacognitive certainty that their choice is rational and defensible. Methods Drawing on metacognition theory and bounded rationality, a sequential cognitive model was proposed in which perceived value influences purchase intention through decision confidence and trust. Structural equation modeling (SEM) and multi-group analysis were conducted using data collected from 433 South Korean adults with experience using AI-based tourism recommendation systems. Results The results support a full sequential mediation pathway: perceived value → decision confidence → trust → purchase intention. Decision confidence functions as a central metacognitive mechanism linking value evaluation to behavioral intention, while trust emerges as an endogenous outcome of decision confidence. Additionally, AI utilization level exerts a stage-specific moderating effect, strengthening the perceived value-purchase intention relationship without significantly affecting the downstream roles of decision confidence and trust. Discussion These findings extend the Stimulus-Organism-Response (S-O-R) framework by conceptualizing the organism as a temporally structured cognitive process involving appraisal and meta-appraisal stages. The study also contributes to decision-making research by positioning trust as an endogenous cognitive outcome in high-uncertainty consumption contexts such as tourism.