Background and Objective: The rapid development of artificial intelligence (AI) has transformed traditional marketing practices and created new opportunities for smart marketing, personalized interactions, and value creation for customers and other stakeholders. Despite the growing body of research on the application of AI in marketing, the integrated dimensions of AI-based smart marketing with an emphasis on social value creation remain insufficiently conceptualized and modeled. Therefore, this study aimed to design an artificial intelligence-based smart marketing model with a social value creation approach.
Methodology: This applied study employed a qualitative research approach. Data were collected through semi-structured interviews with experts in marketing, artificial intelligence, digital transformation, and social value creation. Participants were selected using purposive and snowball sampling, and the process continued until theoretical saturation was achieved. The collected data were analyzed using thematic analysis based on the six-phase approach proposed by Braun and Clarke.
Findings: The thematic analysis identified five overarching themes: artificial intelligence capabilities and marketing intelligence, customer orientation and smart personalization, interaction and value co-creation, responsible and ethical marketing, and social value creation. In addition, 15 organizing themes were identified and integrated within these five dimensions to develop the final research model.
Conclusion: The findings indicate that smart marketing can contribute to sustainable value creation when AI capabilities are integrated with customer orientation, interaction and value co-creation, and ethical responsibility, ultimately generating economic and social value for customers, organizations, and society.