How may (A)I assist you? The Effect of Price Level and Transparency on User Intention in an AI Recommender Setting

Sammanfattning

AI-assisted booking tools are becoming increasingly common in online travel. When such systems recommend a flight, two questions arise: does explaining the reasoning behind the recommendation make consumers more willing to book, and does price shape this effect? This study examines these questions using a 2×2 between-subjects experiment with Swedish adults aged 20-39 (N = 364). Participants were randomly assigned to one of four conditions, with price level (high vs. low) and AI transparency (no explanation vs. a structured explanation outlining selection criteria and data sources) as factors. Purchase intention was the primary outcome, and trust and perceived financial risk were examined as potential mediators. The study did not find empirical support for price as a formal boundary condition, as the interaction between price and transparency on purchase intention was not significant. Contrast analyses, however, indicated that the positive effect of transparency on purchase intention appeared only in the high-price condition. At the same time, the transparency manipulation did not produce a meaningful difference in perceived transparency in the low-price condition, leaving the overall pattern inconclusive. Trust and perceived financial risk, which were identified as psychological mechanisms through which transparency was expected to influence purchase intention, did not mediate this relationship. For airlines and online travel agencies, this points to high-stakes contexts as a potentially more promising target for explainability features, while further research is needed to establish when and how transparency reliably affects consumer decisions.