AI Literacy and Innovative Behavior in AI-Assisted Learning: Cognitive and Affective Trust in AI and Creative Self-Efficacy as Sequential Pathways

Generative artificial intelligence (GAI) is increasingly embedded in higher education, yet how AI literacy relates to AI-assisted innovative behavior in learning (IBL) remains unclear. This cross-sectional study examined whether cognitive and affective trust in AI, together with creative self-efficacy (CSE), sequentially linked AI literacy to IBL. A sample of 1173 Chinese college students completed an online survey; gender, age, and AI use frequency were controlled. AI literacy was associated with IBL in total (β = 0.211, 95% CI [0.155, 0.267]), but the direct association was no longer significant once the mediators were included (β = 0.057, p = 0.056); the total indirect effect accounted for 73.2% of the total association. When both trust dimensions were modeled simultaneously, all seven specific indirect pathways were significant. The pathway through cognitive trust (0.093) exceeded that through affective trust (0.057; Δ = 0.036). Re-estimation under a symmetric covariate specification confirmed a modest antecedent asymmetry (Δ = 0.086), whereas the two trust dimensions did not differ reliably downstream. Cognitive trust thus appears to be the more readily mobilized gateway to IBL, whereas affective trust may require relationally supportive design. Single-wave self-reports preclude causal inference.