Marketing, Artificial Intelligence, and Higher Education for Sustainable Global Development: Innovative Research Directions and an Integrated Framework

Abstract

The current competitive landscape of university education is marked by intense competition among educational institutions, the need to compete in the digital world and to contribute to the achievement of Sustainable Development Goals of the United Nations. The presented paper seeks to link two different streams of literature: the application of artificial intelligence in universities and the strategic marketing practices of such institutions. The paper combines the reviewed body of knowledge on the application of artificial intelligence to the field of marketing (predictive analytics, chatbots, personalization, CRM) and demonstrates how these new technologies affect the processes of recruitment, engagement, and retention of students in the context of higher education sustainability and marketing in general. Five important points can be highlighted in the course of the review. Artificial Intelligence contributes to the efficiency of student recruitment and tailoring of the student experience. But then there’s always the other side of the coin – while AI can be very useful, it does pose some challenges to fairness and equal access. Ethical governance of the use of such technologies becomes paramount in this case. In light of these insights, the article proceeds with introducing a framework called M-AI-SDG, which brings together elements of marketing strategy, artificial intelligence capabilities and sustainability outcomes. New avenues for research are outlined as well.