Nostalgia proneness and acceptance of AI-designed cultural products: the mediating role of perceived authenticity and the moderating role of need for uniqueness

Artificial intelligence is increasingly used to design cultural and creative products, yet consumer acceptance varies considerably. Personality traits may play a key role in shaping these responses, but research has not examined how nostalgia proneness - an individual's dispositional tendency to long for the past - influences attitudes toward AI-designed cultural products. This study investigated whether nostalgia proneness predicts lower acceptance of such products through reduced perceived authenticity, and whether need for uniqueness moderates this indirect pathway A cross-sectional survey was conducted with 291 Chinese university students. Participants viewed images of museum cultural products explicitly labeled as AI-designed and completed measures of nostalgia proneness (Southampton Nostalgia Scale, 7 items), perceived authenticity (8 items), need for uniqueness (8 items), and acceptance of AI-designed cultural products (5 items). A moderated mediation model (PROCESS Model 14) was tested using bias-corrected bootstrap confidence intervals with 5,000 resamples. Nostalgia proneness negatively predicted acceptance of AI-designed cultural products (B = - 0.29, p < 0.001). Perceived authenticity partially mediated this relationship; the indirect effect was significant (ab = - 0.129, 95% CI [- 0.198, - 0.071]), accounting for 44.6% of the total effect. Need for uniqueness moderated the second stage of the mediation path: the positive effect of perceived authenticity on acceptance was stronger among individuals with low need for uniqueness (B = 0.50) than among those with high need for uniqueness (B = 0.22). The index of moderated mediation was significant (index = 0.061, 95% CI [0.013, 0.124]), confirming that the negative indirect effect was attenuated as need for uniqueness increased. Consumers higher in nostalgia proneness are less accepting of AI-designed cultural products, largely because they perceive such products as less authentic. However, this negative pathway is attenuated among consumers with a stronger need for uniqueness, who are less reliant on authenticity judgments when evaluating AI-designed offerings. These findings extend nostalgia psychology to the domain of AI acceptance and provide actionable insights for culturally sensitive AI product marketing strategies.