Abstract
In the future, artificial intelligence (AI) is likely to substantially change both marketing strategies and customer behaviors. Building from not only extant research but also extensive interactions with practice, the authors propose a multidimensional framework for understanding the impact of AI involving intelligence levels, task types, and whether AI is embedded in a robot. Prior research typically addresses a subset of these dimensions; this paper integrates all three into a single framework. Next, the authors propose a research agenda that addresses not only how marketing strategies and customer behaviors will change in the future, but also highlights important policy questions relating to privacy, bias and ethics. Finally, the authors suggest AI will be more effective if it augments (rather than replaces) human managers.
| Original language | English |
|---|---|
| Pages (from-to) | 24-42 |
| Number of pages | 19 |
| Journal | Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science |
| Volume | 48 |
| Issue number | 1 |
| Early online date | 10 Oct 2019 |
| DOIs | |
| Publication status | Published - 31 Jan 2020 |
Funding
The authors thank Eric Colson (Stitch Fix), James Kotecki (Infinia ML) and Charu Kohli (CognitiveScale), who shared their time, materials and insights with the authors as this paper developed. Thomas Davenport and Dhruv Grewal dedicate this article to the memory of their dear friend and colleague, Dean Bala Iyer of Babson University.
Keywords
- Artificial intelligence
- Bias
- Ethics
- Marketing strategy
- Privacy
- Robots
ASJC Scopus subject areas
- Business and International Management
- Economics and Econometrics
- Marketing