Drawing from UTAUT2, this study examines how employees’ performance expectancy and effort expectancy of AI influence human-AI co-creativity through individual absorptive capacity in China’s agricultural e-commerce. Using a two-wave longitudinal survey, results show that performance expectancy and effort expectancy significantly enhance individual absorptive capacity, which in turn boosts human-AI co-creativity. Employee status moderates the impact of individual absorptive capacity on human-AI co-creativity. This study introduces individual absorptive capacity as a mediator and explores the interaction effects of personal characteristics on human-AI co-creativity, contributing new insights to the field. Research contributions, implications, and limitations are discussed.