The Role of Digital Marketing and Artificial Intelligence in Building Online Trust and Sustainable Purchase Intentions: A Comparative Case Study

Abstract

The rapid expansion of digital technologies has altered how brands engage with their audiences. Artificial intelligence now plays a core role in customizing messages, predicting customer needs, and automating interactions across digital touchpoints. At the same time, environmental concerns and new regulations have made sustainability a major factor in how consumers evaluate products and organizations. Although both AI personalization and sustainability communication are widely discussed in current literature, researchers rarely analyze them together in a single conceptual framework. This study investigates how digital sustainability communication and perceived AI usefulness influence online trust, which in turn affects sustainable purchase intention. Using a qualitative comparative case study approach, the research evaluates three global companies with distinct strategies: Patagonia, Unilever (focusing on the Dove brand), and IKEA. The analysis relies on secondary data from academic literature, corporate sustainability reports, and digital media content. The findings indicate that digital sustainability communication directly strengthens consumer trust, while AI features add value mainly when they reduce uncertainty during the decision-making process. Ultimately, trust acts as the critical bridge connecting digital marketing practices to sustainable buying choices. This paper offers a unified model for combining smart technologies with transparent environmental messaging.