Trade integration in digitally enabled economies: implications for brand scalability in the EU27

Abstract

This study investigates how digital transformation tools, specifically artificial intelligence (AI), big data, social media and cloud computing, relate to countries' globalisation degree across the EU27. Adopting a macro-structural perspective, it investigates how national digital infrastructure shapes trade integration and, in turn, the structural conditions under which brand scalability becomes possible in international markets. This study draws on harmonised secondary data from DESI, the World Bank, and the Observatory of Economic Complexity. A globalisation degree indicator based on trade intensity is constructed and analysed using ordinary least squares (OLS) regression models. The analysis examines the associations between digital capabilities and globalisation degree, while accounting for economic (GDP) and demographic (population size) moderators. Additional models explore the enabling roles of big data and cloud computing in relation to AI and social media at the structural level. The results indicate that artificial intelligence is most strongly associated with globalisation degree across the EU27. Big data and cloud computing are not directly associated with globalisation degree in the main model but show consistent enabling relationships in auxiliary analyses. Social media exhibits a weak and negative association at the macro-structural level. These findings suggest a layered digital configuration in which integrative digital capabilities are more closely linked to trade-based market integration than engagement-oriented tools. The association between AI and globalisation degree is also context-dependent, being stronger in digitally mature and trade-active environments. This study contributes to international marketing and digital branding research by reframing global branding as a structurally conditioned process at the macro-level, rather than a purely firm-driven one. By empirically modelling the macro-level digital antecedents of trade integration, it clarifies where digital transformation exerts its influence and establishes a foundation for future multi-level research on brand scalability in global markets.