AI-based virtual try-on technology and the activation of green psychological mechanisms: evidence from a digital...

With the rapid advancement of AI technologies, AI-driven virtual try-on (VTO) technology is increasingly transforming consumers' online consumption patterns by effectively reducing return rates and resource waste through mechanisms such as accurate recommendations, thereby demonstrating substantial potential to influence consumers' green consumption intentions. However, there is still a lack of systematic explanation of how the characteristics of VTO technology influence consumers' green purchase intentions through psychological mechanisms. Grounded in the Stimulus-Organism-Response (SOR) model and the Theory of Planned Behavior (TPB), this study develops an integrated analytical framework to examine how the characteristics of VTO technology influence green purchase intention through consumers' attitudes, subjective norms and perceived behavioral control. A mixed-methods approach combining task-based experiments and questionnaire surveys was employed and data from 424 participants were analyzed using PLS-SEM. The results indicate that visual realism, personalized recommendations and self-congruity primarily enhance green purchase intention by strengthening consumers' green attitudes; social interactivity exerts an indirect effect by reinforcing subjective norms and perceived ease of use promotes green purchase intention by increasing perceived behavioral control, whereas the effect of feedback transparency on perceived control is not supported. Furthermore, the task-based experiments shows that consumers' green preference for highly accurate VTO options is constrained by price premiums, while environmental awareness significantly strengthens the translation of green attitudes into green purchase intention. This study reveals the key psychological pathways through which AI-based VTO technology shifts from functional efficiency to green cognition, providing a theoretical foundation for digital retail platforms to promote sustainable consumption through psychologically informed technology design.