Colouring Outside the Lines: How AI-Driven Personalization Reshapes the Experience–Value Pathway in Human–AI Co-Creation

Artificial intelligence (AI) is reshaping the way users and systems jointly generate value, yet little is known about how AI-driven personalization alters the experience–value pathway in human–AI co-creation. Drawing on the Stimulus–Organism–Response (S-O-R) paradigm and Service-Dominant Logic (SDL), this study examines personalization, trust in AI, perceived control, and interactivity as stimuli influencing two internal states—perceived value and co-creation experience—which in turn shape co-creation value. Data were collected from 343 Vietnamese AI users through a judgemental (purposive) sampling procedure and analysed using partial least squares structural equation modelling (PLS-SEM). The results confirm ten of the eleven hypotheses: personalization, trust in AI, perceived control, and interactivity significantly enhance perceived value, while personalization, trust in AI, and perceived control also strengthen the co-creation experience; interactivity, however, does not significantly affect the co-creation experience. Co-creation experience positively influences perceived value, and both constructs jointly drive co-creation value, supporting a cascading experience–value pathway. Theoretically, the study extends SDL and S-O-R to AI-mediated settings by reframing AI-driven personalization as an operant resource that triggers a dual internal mechanism. Practically, the findings guide AI developers and managers to design personalization features that balance algorithmic adaptivity with user agency to sustain meaningful value co-creation.