Journal of Strategic Marketing

New-age Technologies Driven Strategic Marketing for a Better World

New-age technologies (NATs) (such as artificial intelligence (AI), machine learning, blockchain, robots, augmented reality and the metaverse) are reshaping how firms design and implement marketing strategies across global markets (Gupta et al., 2020; Kumar et al., 2021). By enabling organizations to analyze large volumes of data, personalize interactions, automate decision-making processes, and coordinate complex digital ecosystems, these technologies are transforming how marketing activities are developed and executed in increasingly interconnected global markets.

At the same time, marketing scholars have increasingly questioned the traditional customer-centric orientation of marketing and called for a broader multi-stakeholder marketing perspective, which recognises that marketing decisions influence and involve a wider network of actors including employees, suppliers, regulators, communities, and society at large. While this perspective has gained growing attention in the literature, its practical operationalization within organizational marketing processes remains still insufficiently understood.

In parallel, a rapidly expanding body of research has examined the role of NATs in strategic marketing. However, most existing studies focus primarily on customer-related applications of AI, such as personalization, recommendation systems, virtual influencers, and customer engagement, leaving relatively unexplored how AI may support marketing strategies that address the interests and interactions of multiple stakeholders simultaneously, especially in diverse global contexts (Civera et al., 2025; Ledro et al., 2025; Tehrani & Roy, 2025).

This Special Issue addresses these gaps by exploring how NATs can help operationalize multi-stakeholder marketing in practice, particularly in global contexts where firms operate across diverse institutional environments and stakeholder expectations. Specifically, the Special Issue seeks to understand how NATs can support stakeholder engagement, value creation, and governance across global marketing ecosystems, while also examining the potential dark sides of NAT-driven marketing systems, including issues related to bias, accountability, fairness, trust and stakeholder power imbalances.

By bringing together research on NAT, multi-stakeholder marketing, and global marketing, this Special Issue aims to advance theoretical and empirical understanding of how advanced technologies can support more inclusive, transparent, and responsible marketing practices in complex global markets. In doing so, it contributes to the broader debate on how marketing supported by emerging new-age technologies can move beyond narrow customer-centric logics and play a more constructive role in generating value for multiple stakeholders and institutions, ultimately contributing to the development of marketing practices that support a better world.

Introduction

For decades, marketing has been criticized for its narrow customer-centric and shareholder-oriented focus, often perceived as a manipulative discipline disconnected from broader societal interests (Chandy et al., 2021; Greenland et al., 2026; Hillebrand et al., 2015; Kotler et al., 2020). In response, scholars have progressively applied a multi-stakeholder perspective to traditional marketing strategies and tactics grounded in stakeholder theory (Civera et al., 2025a; Civera & Morelli, 2025; Freeman, 1984; Hult et al., 2011; Kull et al., 2016; Maignan et al., 2011; Tehrani & Roy, 2025). This perspective reconceptualizes marketing as a responsible organizational function that creates and co-creates value with and for multiple stakeholders simultaneously, extending beyond customers to include employees, suppliers, regulators, local communities, and society at large in constant dialogue with other organizational functions such as corporate social responsibility, human resources, and corporate communication (Aksoy et al., 2022; Hillebrand et al., 2015; Kujala et al., 2022; Webb & Orr, 2024).

From this perspective, multi-stakeholder marketing represents an opportunity to reposition marketing as a discipline capable of contributing to broader societal welfare and sustainable value creation. As highlighted by recent scholarship, marketing can evolve toward a “better discipline” (Chandy et al., 2021) capable of contributing to a “better world” (Moorman et al., 2018) by emphasizing its role as a social force that generates value not only for firms but also for the multiple stakeholders embedded within complex market systems.

Despite this growing interest, the practical implementation of multi-stakeholder marketing remains insufficiently understood. Existing studies have provided valuable conceptual insights but often lack clear frameworks explaining how multi-stakeholder marketing can be operationalized in managerial practice, particularly in global contexts characterized by rapid technological change (Civera et al., 2025a; Civera et al., 2025b; Greenland et al., 2026; Hermann, 2022a, 2022b; Hollebeek et al., 2024).

For firms operating in global markets, this shift is particularly significant. Companies must navigate heterogeneous institutional environments, cultural expectations, and regulatory frameworks while interacting with stakeholders whose interests and values may vary substantially across countries (Civera et al., 2025b; Dayangan & Aykol, 2026; Pfajfar et al., 2024; Roh et al., 2025). Implementing multi-stakeholder marketing in global contexts therefore requires new mechanisms of coordination, transparency, and engagement among geographically dispersed actors embedded within global value chains.

At the same time, digital and advanced technologies are profoundly transforming how firms interact with stakeholders and create value in international markets. New-age technologies (NATs)  (such as artificial intelligence (AI), machine learning, blockchain, robots, augmented reality and the metaverse) enable organizations to coordinate complex ecosystems of actors, improve transparency across supply chains, and facilitate new forms of collaborative value creation (Davenport et al., 2020; Du & Xie, 2021; Gupta et al., 2020; Matthews et al., 2025; Kumar et al., 2021).

Among these technologies, artificial intelligence (AI) has attracted particular attention as a transformative force capable of reshaping marketing strategies, stakeholder interactions, and value co-creation processes (Güngör, 2020; Huang & Rust, 2022, 2021; Hollebeek et al., 2022; Kumar et al., 2019; Roy et al., 2025). Through machine learning algorithms and advanced data-processing capabilities, AI systems allow firms to analyze large volumes of structured and unstructured data, generate predictive insights, optimize marketing strategies, and deliver increasingly personalized experiences across digital touchpoints (Ma & Sun, 2020). AI-driven tools are also increasingly used to automate operational and marketing processes and to facilitate coordination among multiple actors within digital and platform-based ecosystems (Chen et al., 2025; Asseraf & Gnizy, 2023).

However, despite the rapid diffusion of NATs in marketing practice, their implications for multi-stakeholder marketing remain insufficiently explored. Existing research has largely focused on the technological capabilities of NATs and their implications for customer engagement and firm performance, often examining applications such as generative AI tools, virtual influencers, and metaverse environments (Matthews et al., 2025). Comparatively less attention has been devoted to understanding how NATs may support value co-creation among multiple stakeholders and facilitate more inclusive and responsible marketing practices in global contexts.

At the same time, the growing reliance on algorithmic systems raises important concerns regarding ethics, legitimacy, accountability, and fairness (Du & Xie, 2021; Hermann, 2022a, 2022b). NAT-driven marketing decision-making processes may amplify existing biases, obscure responsibility, or privilege certain stakeholder groups over others. Consequently, the impact of NATs should be assessed not only in terms of firm performance or customer experience, but also with regard to broader societal consequences and stakeholder well-being (EU Artificial Intelligence Act, 2024). These challenges are further amplified in global markets, where firms deploy AI systems across jurisdictions characterized by diverse regulatory standards, cultural expectations, and levels of institutional trust (Katsikeas et al., 2019; Pfajfar et al., 2024).

Against this backdrop, this Special Issue aims to advance the literature by exploring how advanced technologies, particularly artificial intelligence, reshape multi-stakeholder marketing strategies and practices in global contexts, with a focus on stakeholder engagement, governance mechanisms, and value creation processes within global marketing ecosystems.

The central question guiding this Special Issue is:

How do new-age technologies, particularly artificial intelligence, reshape traditional marketing strategies and practices toward more effective stakeholder engagement and value co-creation in global markets?

Despite the rapid diffusion of NATs in marketing practice, limited research has examined how these technologies reshape stakeholder engagement processes and value creation mechanisms across global marketing ecosystems.

By addressing this question, the Special Issue contributes to the mission of the Journal of Strategic Marketing by advancing rigorous and relevant research at the intersection of marketing, digital transformation, and international business. In particular, it aligns with the journal’s scope by examining how new-age technologies reshape marketing strategies, stakeholder engagement processes, and value creation mechanisms in increasingly complex global markets.

Topics may include (but are not limited to):

Topic 1

Artificial Intelligence and Value Co-Creation in Global Marketing Ecosystems

Possible contributions may explore how artificial intelligence and advanced technologies reshape marketing strategies, marketing processes, and marketing interactions among multiple stakeholders operating across global markets. Research may investigate how NATs enable new forms of marketing value creation and value co-creation among firms, customers, suppliers, regulators, and communities, as well as how technology-enabled marketing infrastructures enhance transparency, traceability, and coordination across global value chains.

Contributions examining how NATs support data-driven marketing strategies, personalized marketing experiences, and stakeholder-oriented marketing practices in global contexts are particularly encouraged. Studies that analyze how firms leverage new-age technologies to redesign marketing activities, stakeholder engagement processes, and marketing governance mechanisms across global ecosystems are also welcome.

Topic 2: Governance, ethics, and responsible AI in marketing

This topic welcomes research investigating the ethical, governance, and organizational implications of NAT-driven marketing systems and marketing decision-making processes. Potential contributions may explore issues related to algorithmic bias, transparency, accountability, and fairness in data-driven marketing practices, as well as their implications for stakeholder trust, legitimacy, and well-being.

Research examining governance mechanisms and organizational capabilities required to implement responsible and transparent NAT-enabled marketing strategies is particularly encouraged. Contributions may also analyze how firms manage stakeholder tensions and trade-offs arising from NAT-supported marketing decisions, and how organizations design responsible marketing governance frameworks that balance business objectives with broader societal expectations.

Topic 3: Cross-Country Dynamics of New-age Technologies in Marketing

This topic focuses on how institutional environments, cultural contexts, and regulatory frameworks influence the adoption and governance of artificial intelligence in global marketing activities. Contributions may examine cross-country differences in the implementation of NAT-enabled marketing strategies, including the role of institutional environments in shaping stakeholder engagement and marketing practices across global markets.

Research may also explore how new-age technologies influence global marketing strategy, global customer engagement, and marketing ecosystem coordination across countries. Studies investigating how NATs support more sustainable, inclusive, and responsible marketing practices in global markets are particularly encouraged.

Sample Research Questions

To stimulate further scholarly discussion, this Special Issue welcomes contributions addressing, but not limited to, the following research questions:

1. How do new-age technologies reshape marketing strategies and marketing practices aimed at creating value for multiple stakeholders in global markets?
2. In what ways can NAT-enabled marketing systems support stakeholder engagement and value co-creation among firms, customers, suppliers, regulators, and communities across global ecosystems?
3. How do organisations leverage new-age technologies to redesign marketing processes, marketing decision-making, and stakeholder interactions in global contexts?
4. What organisational capabilities and governance mechanisms are required to implement responsible and transparent NAT-driven marketing practices across global markets?
5. How do algorithmic marketing systems influence stakeholder trust, legitimacy, and perceptions of fairness in global markets?
6. How do institutional environments, regulatory frameworks, and cultural contexts shape the adoption and governance of artificial intelligence in global marketing activities?
7. What tensions and trade-offs emerge when firms use AI to optimize marketing performance while balancing the interests of multiple stakeholders?
8. How can new-age technologies contribute to more sustainable, inclusive, and responsible marketing strategies in global markets?

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