The influence of designer identity on design majors' intention to use AIGC tools: an SEM-fsQCA analysis in China

As AIGC is increasingly integrated into design education and professional practice, understanding the factors that drive design majors' intention to use these tools has become an important issue. Existing studies have primarily explained technology adoption from cognitive and utilitarian perspectives, while paying limited attention to the role of designer identity.

Drawing on Social Identity Theory (SIT), Innovation Diffusion Theory (IDT), and Innovation Resistance Theory (IRT), this study proposes an integrated theoretical model to examine how designer identity influences design majors' intention to use AIGC tools. Survey data were collected from 615 design majors in China and analyzed using structural equation modeling (SEM) and fuzzy-set qualitative comparative analysis (fsQCA).

The results show that designer identity positively predicts intention to use AIGC tools both directly and indirectly through innovativeness and self-efficacy. In addition, perceived ease of use negatively moderates the relationship between designer identity and the intention to use AIGC tools, suggesting that highly accessible tools may sometimes raise concerns about professional distinctiveness among design majors with a strong designer identity. The fsQCA results further reveal three pathways associated with high intention to use AIGC tools: the Identity-Driven Innovation Pattern, the Identity-Driven Exploration Pattern, and the Tool-Empowered Pattern.

This study contributes to the literature by introducing a professional identity-based lens to AIGC tool adoption research and demonstrating how designer identity, innovativeness, self-efficacy, and perceived ease of use jointly shape design majors' engagement with emerging design technologies. The findings also provide practical implications for design education seeking to balance technological competence with the development of designer identity.