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Artificial intelligence (AI) has sparked interest in various areas, including marketing. However, this exhilaration is being tempered by growing concerns about the moral and legal implications of using AI in marketing. Although previous research has revealed various ethical and legal issues, such as algorithmic discrimination and data privacy, there are no definitive answers. This paper aims to fill this gap by investigating AI’s ethical and legal concerns in marketing and suggesting feasible solutions.

The paper synthesises information from academic articles, industry reports, case studies and legal documents through a thematic literature review. A qualitative analysis approach categorises and interprets ethical and legal challenges and proposes potential solutions.

The findings of this paper raise concerns about ethical and legal challenges related to AI in the marketing area. Ethical concerns related to discrimination, bias, manipulation, job displacement, absence of social interaction, cybersecurity, unintended consequences, environmental impact, privacy and legal issues such as consumer security, responsibility, liability, brand protection, competition law, agreements, data protection, consumer protection and intellectual property rights are discussed in the paper, and their potential solutions are discussed.

Notwithstanding the interesting insights gathered from this investigation of the ethical and legal consequences of AI in marketing, it is important to recognise the limits of this research. Initially, the focus of this study is confined to a review of the most important ethical and legal issues pertaining to AI in marketing. Additional possible repercussions, such as those associated with intellectual property, contracts and licencing, should be investigated more deeply in future studies. Despite the fact that this study gives various answers and best practices for tackling the stated ethical and legal concerns, the viability and efficacy of these solutions may differ depending on the context and industry. Thus, more research and case studies are required to evaluate the applicability and efficacy of these solutions in other circumstances. This research is mostly based on a literature review and may not represent the experiences or opinions of all stakeholders engaged in AI-powered marketing. Further study might involve interviews or surveys with marketing professionals, customers and other key stakeholders to offer a full knowledge of the practical difficulties and solutions. Because of the rapid speed of technical progress, AI’s ethical and regulatory ramifications in marketing are continually increasing. Consequently, this work should be a springboard for more research and continuing conversations on this subject.

This study’s findings have several practical implications for marketing professionals. Emphasising openness and explainability: Marketing professionals should prioritise transparency in their use of AI, ensuring that customers are fully informed about data collection and utilisation for targeted advertising. By promoting openness and explainability, marketers can foster customer trust and avoid the negative consequences of a lack of transparency. Establishing ethical guidelines: Marketing professionals need to develop ethical rules for the creation and implementation of AI-powered marketing strategies. Adhering to ethical principles ensures compliance with legal norms and aligns with the organisation’s values and ideals. Investing in bias detection tools and privacy-enhancing technology: To mitigate risks associated with AI in marketing, marketers should allocate resources to develop and implement bias detection tools and privacy-enhancing technology. These tools can identify and address biases in AI algorithms, safeguard consumer privacy and extract valuable insights from consumer data.

This study’s social implications emphasise the need for a comprehensive approach to address the ethical and legal challenges of AI in marketing. This includes adopting a responsible innovation framework, promoting ethical leadership, using ethical decision-making frameworks and conducting multidisciplinary research. By incorporating these approaches, marketers can navigate the complexities of AI in marketing responsibly, foster an ethical organisational culture, make informed ethical decisions and develop effective solutions. Such practices promote public trust, ensure equitable distribution of benefits and risk, and mitigate potential negative social consequences associated with AI in marketing.

To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this paper is among the first to explore potential solutions comprehensively. This paper provides a nuanced understanding of the challenges by using a multidisciplinary framework and synthesising various sources. It contributes valuable insights for academia and industry.

Numerous biotechnology and pharmaceutical firms have undergone considerable changes and adapted to the challenge of developing sustainable products and services. However, few studies have explored the factors that contribute to the success of external innovation and value co-creation strategies adopted by biotechnology and pharmaceutical firms. The purpose of this study is to examine how biotechnology and pharmaceutical industries use value co-creation strategies to obtain external resources.

This study developed a conceptual framework based on the relevant literature. The study applied a resource-based approach, dynamic capability theory and a qualitative multiple-case study design to investigate several research questions; semi-structured interviews were conducted with representatives from 11 biotechnology/pharmaceutical firms in Taiwan, and the data extracted from the interview content were axially coded.

This study revealed that factors such as dynamic marketing capabilities and process optimization contributed to the success of the aforementioned strategies; several propositions were also developed on the basis of the literature review and coded data, thereby providing insights regarding the relative efficacy and propriety of various external innovation and value co-creation strategies and models in various situations and contexts. Firms and technology providers might enter a technology licensing agreement, establish a joint venture company; participate in a merger/acquisition depending on their size, research and development capabilities; or goals and time- and cost-related factors.

The main original contributions of this study are the proposed conceptual framework and the insights provided regarding the relative efficacy and propriety of different external innovation and value co-creation strategies and models in different situations and contexts.

This study investigates the role of “soft” factors of total quality management – in terms of empowerment and engagement of employees – in facilitating or hindering organizational performance of the university technology transfer offices.

The authors developed an Ordinary Least Squares (OLS), multiple regression model to test if empowerment and engagement affect organizational performance of the university technology transfer offices.

The authors found that “soft” factors of total quality management – in terms of empowerment and engagement – facilitate the improvement of organizational performance in university technology transfer offices.

The authors’ analysis shows that soft total quality management practices create the conditions for improving organizational performance. This study provides practical implications by showing that, in the evaluation of the technology transfer office, not only the “hard” variables (e.g. number of employees and employee experience) but also the “soft” one (e.g. empowerment and engagement) matter. Therefore, university technology transfer managers or university technology transfer delegates should take actions to promote not only empowering employees but also create a climate conducive to employees' engagement in the university technology transfer offices.

With regards to the differences in organizational performances of university technology transfer offices, several studies have focused their attention on technology transfer professionals in technology transfer offices, but only a few of them have examined the “soft side” of total quality management. Thus, this study examines the organizational goals of technology transfer offices through “soft” factors of total quality management in terms of empowerment and engagement employees.

Multinational enterprises (MNEs) establish a wide range of alliances to access the critical resources that they may need at any one time. Although inter-organizational relationships (IORs) constitute the channels through which social capital flows, MNEs should consider which mechanisms or characteristics of the relations facilitate their actual mobilization.

A definition of alliance types yielded the parameters for an ordinary least squares regression of a sample from top global-reach MNEs from the airline industry.

The results showed that certain kind of alliances favored the actual mobilization of social capital.

Managers of MNEs must select the type of IOR taking into account the objective they pursue and the type of activity they will include.

Analyzing the factors that influence the degree of mobilization of social capital and how MNEs actually use the resources of the partners require the establishment of a theoretical framework and the development of empirical evidence.

las Empresas Multinacionales (MNEs) establecen una amplia gama de alianzas para acceder a los recursos críticos externos que puedan necesitar en cualquier memento. Las MNEs deben considerar qué mecanismos o características de las relaciones facilitan su movilización real.

una definición de los tipos de alianza produjo los parámetros para una regresión de mínimos cuadrados ordinarios de una muestra de las principales MNEs de alcance global de la industria de las aerolíneas.

Los resultados mostraron que ciertos tipos de alianzas favorecieron la movilización real del capital social.

Analizar los factores que influyen en el grado de movilización del capital social y cómo las MNEs utilizan en la práctica los recursos de sus socios, requiere del establecimiento de un marco teórico y el desarrollo de evidencia empírica.

This paper aims to empirically examine the factors driving the acquisition of patents and foreign technologies in 2,198 firms spanning multiple industries in Visegrád countries.

To fulfil the research objectives, the authors used the binary logistic regression models for the empirical specifications to analyse the various hypotheses to ascertain the factors contributing to patents, foreign technologies and international quality certificate acquisitions in Visegrád countries.

The results show that technological innovations, in-house and external research and development, intense competition from the informal sector and external knowledge search positively influence firms to acquire patents, foreign technologies and international quality certificates. The study further showed that certain firm characteristics, such as size, having a board of directors, female top managers and top managers’ experience, positively influenced firms’ ability to obtain patents, foreign technologies and international quality certificates.

The authors provide new insights into understanding the factors contributing to international technological linkages in the context of transitional countries such as the Visegrád four group. The authors have shown that international technology linkages through foreign technology licences and international quality certifications are vital for innovations in transition economies.

Drawing on transaction cost economics, the authors conceptualise brand licensing as a form of alliance. Its performance may be affected by a licensee’s potential opportunism resulting from an imbalance of specific investments in brand-building prior to signing the licensing agreement. From the licensor’s perspective, brand licensing represents a trade-off between brand protection and additional revenues. This study aims to examine how this trade-off shapes licensors’ evaluations of the attractiveness of brand licensing opportunities.

In a vignette study, 121 brand licensing professionals evaluated the attractiveness of up to eight hypothetical brand licensing opportunities with different levels of risk and profitability.

From a licensor’s perspective, high brand quality and distribution risks decrease the attractiveness of a licensing opportunity, although the latter risks are more pronounced. High potential profitability has a positive and significant effect on attractiveness.

The risks outlined in this study refer to licensee behaviour. The licensor may also behave opportunistically. The authors encourage research designs that enable a dyadic evaluation of licensing opportunities because a comparison of a licensor’s and a licensee’s assessments of the same scenario would be illuminating.

The findings enable the development of an evaluation template that directs brand owners’ attention to the risks and gains of brand licensing opportunities. It supports licensors in choosing the “best” opportunity.

This study identifies risks emanating from a licensee’s potential opportunism from a licensor’s perspective. It juxtaposes these risks with the potential profitability of brand licensing opportunities. It is thus one of the first studies to address a licensor’s decision-making trade-offs in a large-scale empirical setting.

The matter of interest is the reporting and disclosure of intellectual capital (IC) in the global “knowledge economy” era. The aim of the paper is twofold: to verify the level of disclosure of IC through the non-financial statements (NFSs) published by public companies and to identify the main firm-specific factors that explain the propensity to disclose.

Based on the 27 components of IC, a scoring system is designed to measure the level of disclosure of IC by 47 listed Italian companies. Content analysis (CA) is performed on the NFSs these companies published in 2020, to measure each company's so-called intellectual capital disclosure index (ICDI). A regression analysis is then applied to relate the ICDI scores to some firm-specific variables to determine their relevance and influence on the level of disclosure.

Although the NFS was not designed specifically for IC, the results of the analyses show an overall barely satisfactory ability of the NFS to give certain information on IC. Furthermore, the propensity to disclose IC appears significantly related to some firm characteristics considered here, such as capitalization, profitability, productivity, intangibility and financial structure.

The analysis relates to a representative but limited sample that does not allow for sectoral or time-series analyses. Extending the companies and years under observation would allow the results to be validated with broader and more in-depth analysis.

This paper provides exploratory but interesting evidence about the relationships between IC disclosure (ICD), firm characteristics and market capitalization. Despite several previous studies on the disclosure of IC, no analyses were found that focused on the information capacity of the NFS. Also, to the authors' knowledge, relatively few researchers have considered a set of financial ratios that include capital structure indices.

E-commerce is gaining popularity across the globe and Mauritian businesses are also increasingly making use of online platforms to engage in cross-border electronic transactions. However, there are several implications arising from online trading which need to be addressed, among which one is the validity of e-contracts. This research will therefore emphasise on two main components of e-contracts: choice of law and the applicable jurisdiction. While Mauritian laws were amended to give effect to digital signatures and e-agreements, there is no extensive or substantive domestic legal provision on choice of law and jurisdiction. Hence, the purpose of this study is to advocate for a greater clarity on the legal framework governing the applicable law and jurisdiction governing a conflict situation in e-contracts, with the view of increasing trust in international e-commerce and to bring in consistency with international commercial relations. This study will be carried out in the Mauritian context by adopting the black letter approach which will analyse the relevant rules and regulations concerning e-contract formation and validity. Additionally, a comparative analysis will be conducted on the legal framework relating to the applicable law and jurisdiction in e-contracts for selected countries: the European Union and the United States. These countries have been chosen for the comparison due to their high involvement in e-commerce and their advanced as well as comprehensive rules on e-commerce.

Driven by the dual-carbon target and the widespread digital transformation, leveraging digital technology (DT) to facilitate sustainable, green and high-quality development in heavy-polluting industries has emerged as a pivotal and timely research focus. However, existing studies diverge in their perspectives on whether DT’s impact on green innovation is synergistic or leads to a crowding-out effect. In pursuit of optimizing the synergy between DT and green innovation, this paper aims to investigate the mechanisms that can be harnessed to render DT a more constructive force in advancing green innovation.

Drawing from the theoretical framework of resource orchestration, the authors offer a comprehensive elucidation of how DT intricately influences the green innovation efficiency of enterprises. Given the intricate interplay within the synergistic relationship between DT and green innovation, the authors use the fuzzy-set qualitative comparative analysis method to explore diverse configurations of antecedent conditions leading to optimal solutions. This approach transcends conventional linear thinking to provide a more nuanced understanding of the complex dynamics involved.

The findings reveal that antecedent configurations fostering high green innovation efficiency actually differ across various stages. First, there are three distinct configuration patterns that can enhance the green technology research and development (R&D) efficiency of enterprises, namely, digitally driven resource integration (RI), digitally driven resource synergy (RSy) and high resource orchestration capability. Then, the authors also identify three configuration patterns that can bolster the high green achievement transfer efficiency of enterprises, including a digitally optimized resource portfolio, digitally driven RSy and efficient RI. The findings not only contribute to advancing the resource orchestration theory in the digital ecosystem but also provide empirical evidence and practical insights to support the sustainable development of green innovation.

The findings can offer valuable insights for enterprise managers, providing decision-making guidance on effectively harnessing the innovation-driven value of internal and external resources through resource restructuring, bundling and leveraging, whether with or without the support of DT.

The research findings contribute to heavy-polluting enterprises addressing the paradoxical tensions between digital transformation and resource constraints under environmental regulatory pressures. It aims to facilitate the simultaneous achievement of environmental and commercial success by enhancing their green innovation capabilities, ultimately leading to sustainability across profit and the environment.

Compared with previous literature, this research introduces a distinctive theoretical perspective, the resource orchestration view, to shed light on the paradoxical relationship on resource-occupancy between DT application and green innovation. It unveils the “black box” of how digitalization impacts green innovation efficiency from a more dynamic resource-based perspective. While most studies regard green innovation activities as a whole, this study delves into the impact of digitalization on green innovation within the distinct realms of green technology R&D and green achievement transfer, taking into account a two-stage value chain perspective. Finally, in contrast to previous literature that predominantly analyzes influence mechanisms through linear impact, the authors use configuration analysis to intricately unravel the complex influences arising from various combinatorial relationships of digitalization and resource orchestration behaviors on green innovation efficiency.

The competitiveness of companies and their capacity to join markets have changed as a result of the digital economy. One of the reasons the European Commission will revise the rules governing block exemptions for R&D agreements and begin consulting stakeholders in March 2022 is the impact of digitalisation on markets. This chapter looks into how digitalisation has impacted the competitive analysis and evaluation that Moldovan businesses and the competition authority must conduct when looking at R&D collaborations.

For the purposes of the research in this chapter, we used methods such as analysis, deduction, induction, and synthesis of conceptual approaches to the digitalization of the competitive assessment, to elucidate the factors influencing competitiveness in R&D agreements. We also assessed the situation in the Republic of Moldova to formulate conclusions and own opinions about how the introduction of new processes and products on the market will stimulate competition among national firms and will strengthen their ability to compete in regional or even international markets. The recommendations and proposals for improving the management of competence to encourage businesses to innovate collaborate and exchange knowledge to produce innovative goods and services, including green economy solutions and initiatives with the security to comply with a competition policy adapted to the requirements of the new economy, as well as to the new changes in the European competition policy.