AI-Driven Digital Marketing and Responsible Consumption: The Mediating Role of Marketing Intelligence in Advancing SDG 12

Artificial intelligence (AI) is increasingly embedded in digital marketing, enabling organisations to personalise communication, analyse consumer data, and optimise decision-making processes. Despite its widespread adoption, limited empirical research has examined whether AI-driven digital marketing contributes to responsible consumption and production, as articulated in Sustainable Development Goal 12 (SDG 12). Grounded in a capability-based and marketing intelligence framework, this study investigates the mechanisms through which AI-driven digital marketing influences responsible marketing outcomes. Using survey data from 120 professionals in multinational corporations (MNCs) operating in South Africa, the study examines how AI-driven digital marketing influences responsible marketing outcomes aligned with Sustainable Development Goal 12 (SDG 12), with particular emphasis on the mediating roles of predictive consumer analytics and sentiment-based consumer understanding as distinct dimensions of AI-enabled marketing intelligence. Instead, its influence operates indirectly through sentiment-based consumer understanding, while predictive consumer analytics show no significant effect. These results suggest that AI contributes to responsible consumption primarily when it enhances firms’ capacity to interpret consumer values, emotions, and ethical concerns. The study advances the digital marketing and sustainability literature by reframing AI as a relational and sense-making capability while offering practical guidance for aligning AI-driven marketing strategies with SDG 12 in emerging markets.