Buyer persona expert system: An ontology-based knowledge framework for persona formulation

This study proposes a Buyer Persona Expert System (BPES) as an ontology-driven, rule-based design artifact for explainable and consistent buyer persona formulation in the e-business context of Micro, Small, and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs). The proposed artifact operationalizes the expert system lifecycle by integrating structured knowledge acquisition, ontology-based knowledge representation, and deterministic IF–THEN inference. Buyer personas are generated through the execution of explicit rules based on a formal ontology, enabling traceable and interpretable reasoning rather than opaque data-driven predictions. The BPES artifact was developed following the Design Science Research Methodology and instantiated as a working system, which was validated through expert evaluation and case-based testing. Validation results demonstrate a logically consistent ontology structure, correct and reproducible rule-based inference results, and strong expert acceptance, indicating that the artifact is technically sound and suitable for practical applications. By externalizing implicit expert knowledge into an explicit semantic model and inference rules, BPES reduces subjectivity in persona construction while increasing consistency and usability for non-technical decision-makers. All supporting artifacts, including the ontology model, rule base, synthetic test cases, and system implementation, are publicly available to facilitate transparency and reproducibility. Overall, this study demonstrates that buyer persona formulation can be effectively realized as an explainable, ontology-driven expert system artifact, extending existing persona approaches beyond conceptual frameworks to operational and auditable decision-support solutions. • An ontology-driven rule-based expert system enabling buyer persona generation • Buyer personas are inferred through explicit and explainable IF–THEN reasoning • The proposed BPES ensures consistent and reproducible persona construction • The system supports interpretable decision-making for MSME e-business contexts