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Impact of
The impact of artificial artificial
intelligence in marketing on the intelligence

performance of business
organizations: evidence from
SMEs in an emerging economy Received 27 July 2022
Revised 8 November 2022
Accepted 19 December 2022
Kwabena Abrokwah-Larbi
Department of Marketing, Koforidua Technical University,
Koforidua, Ghana, and
Yaw Awuku-Larbi
Department of Virology, Noguchi Memorial Institute for Medical Research
(NMIMR), University of Ghana, Accra, Ghana

Abstract
Purpose – This study aims to empirically investigate the relationship between artificial intelligence (AI) in
marketing (AIM) and business performance from the resource-based view (RBV) perspective.
Design/methodology/approach – A survey strategy was used in this study to collect data from 225
small and medium enterprises (SMEs) respondents who were on the registered list of the Ghana Enterprise
Agency in the Eastern Region of Ghana. Structural equation modeling – path analysis was used to estimate
the impact of AIM on the performance of SMEs.
Findings – The analyzed data shows that AIM has significant impact on the financial performance,
customer performance, internal business process performance and learning and growth performance in
the case of SMEs in Ghana. This study establishes the significance of AIM approach in achieving
financial performance, customer performance, internal business process performance and learning and
growth performance through the application of AIM determinants including, Internet of Things (IoT),
collaborative decision-making systems (CDMS), virtual and augmented reality (VAR) and
personalization.
Research limitations/implications – Aside the aforementioned significance of this research study,
this study has limitations. The sample size of this research study can be expanded to include SME
respondents in other geographical areas that were not considered in this study. Future research studies
should concentrate on how AIM can analyze customer communications and information such as posts on
social media to develop future communications that may enhance customer engagement.
Practical implications – The practical implications comprise of two key items. First, this research
study encourages SME owners and managers to develop an AIM method as a fundamental strategic
goal in their pursuit to improve SME performance. Second, SME owners and managers should
increasingly implement the four determinants of AIM indicated in this research study (i.e., IOT, CDMS,
VAR and personalization) to develop essential resources for effective application of AIM to improve
their performance.
Originality/value – The results of this study provide a strong support to RBV theory and the proposition
that AIM and its determinants (i.e., IOT, CDMS, VAR and personalization) should be recognized as an
essential strategic resource for improving the performance (i.e., financial performance, customer performance,
Journal of Entrepreneurship in
Emerging Economies
Declaration of competing interest: The author declares that there is no known competing financial © Emerald Publishing Limited
2053-4604
interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the reported in this paper. DOI 10.1108/JEEE-07-2022-0207
JEEE internal business process performance and learning and growth performance) of SMEs. This study also
contributes to the current body of knowledge on AIM and management, particularly in the context of an
emerging economy.
Keywords SMEs, Emerging economy, Artificial intelligence in marketing (AIM),
Business organization performance
Paper type Research paper

1. Introduction
In this present digital environment, prudent marketing strategy design requires extensive
insight into customer requirements, choices and experiences. Also, successful marketing
strategy takes into consideration the capability of business organizations, particularly small
and medium enterprises (SMEs) to react faster to customer information obtained (Measures,
2021). The ability of SMEs to perform real-time and data-oriented marketing decisions has
establish artificial intelligence (AI) as a critical tactical marketing technique (Gabelaia, 2022).
Gabelaia (2022) emphasize that AI in marketing (AIM) establishes a workable and broad
approach to exploit the capability of data-oriented marketing strategies and attain an
optimal performance for business organizations including SMEs. Digitally driven SMEs are
accepting intelligent alternatives to develop a demanding customer experience. Operational
AI-enabled alternatives present considerably strong stage for SMEs to manage huge
amount of customer data sets acquired and also increase SMEs insight into target
markets. As a result, the precept of AIM is not solely targeted at financial variables such as
revenue, profits, return on capital employed and return on investment (ROI) but also at non-
financial variables such as enterprise endurance, internal business process and continuous
learning and innovation (Hoyer et al., 2020). According to Devarapalli (2022), AIM has
significantly attracted the attention of both scholars and practitioners due to increase in
computing capability and the need to reduce marketing costs, accessibility to big market
data sets and the requirement of deep learning for strategic marketing decision. For
example, in-store personal assistant that uses natural language processing (NLP) to settle
the wide-ranging enquiries of customers plays a pivotal role in customer engagement and in-
store experience optimization (Verma et al., 2021). Davenport (2020) and Rust (2020) contend
that the combination of marketing and AI will realize a significant growth in the years
ahead. Similarly, Devarapalli (2022) assert that AI can be applied in marketing to generate
optimum business performance and enhance customer delight. Therefore, AIM has
substantial ability to generate revenue and increase the performance of business
organizations (Boddu et al., 2022). This is where the resource-based view (RBV) approach is
beneficial in helping business organizations analyze and interpret AIM as an internal
resource and also stressing on the utilization of AIM resources and capabilities to generate
competitive performance (Barney et al., 2011). Therefore, the RBV approach analyses
business organization’s sustainable competitive advantage and performance through the
business organization internal resource, such as AIM capability, that are not imitable
(Osakwe et al., 2022).
In recent times, there have been several research studies that focuses on AIM. For
example, AI applications for marketing: a literature-based study (Haleem et al., 2022), AI-
enabled personalization (AIP) in interactive marketing: a customer perspective journey (Gao
and Liu, 2022), an analysis to understand the role of machine learning, robotics and AI in
digital marketing (Boddu et al., 2022), an applicability of AI marketing for creating
data-driven marketing strategies (Gabelaia, 2022), a framework for collaborative AIM
(Huang and Rust, 2022), machine learning and AI use in marketing: a general taxonomy
(De Mauro et al., 2022), AIM: a systematic literature review (Chintalapati and Pandey, 2022) Impact of
and the strategic use of AI to engage customers (Huang and Rust, 2021). artificial
Despite the recognition of AI in the field of marketing practice and scholarly research,
there has been continuous debate about whether AIM greatly influences the performance of
intelligence
business organizations including SMEs. Mirrored in marketing studies, some studies find
support for AIM influence on the performance of business organizations such as the
application of AIM to increase consumer satisfaction through personalization of customer
experience (Campbell et al., 2020), and the use of AI-enabled machine learning in marketing
to impact financial metrics through the optimization of price and media strategy (De Mauro
et al., 2022); while some studies find lack of support for AIM influence on business
performance with respect to dimensions such as lack of knowledge about AI capabilities and
insufficient infrastructure (Murtezaoglu, 2022), results of failed attempts and the complexity
of determining performance metrics to measure the effect of AI on business performance
(Dumitriu and Popescu, 2020). Herman (2021) depicts AIM as a “two-edged sword”. In that,
aside AIM positive implications to business performance, these applications have enormous
potential for generating different threats, challenges and barriers for business organizations
and the society (Hermann, 2021). Huang and Rust (2021) also contend that despite the
availability of many research studies on AIM, the segment needs more empirical
investigations and practical illustrations to obtain huge support of all marketing specialists
and business managers (e.g. SME managers). This supports the fact that most studies on
AIM such as Haleem et al. (2022), Gao and Liu (2022), Boddu et al. (2022) and Chen et al.
(2021) are mostly limited to bibliometric and conceptual investigations and therefore lack
empirical findings to ascertain the actual effect of AIM on key business performance
metrics.
These disagreements create continual apprehensions about the function and impact of
AIM on the performance of business organizations, particularly concerning the
determinants of AIM that should be used to undertake marketing tasks, and in what way
should determinants of AIM be used by business organizations to achieve both financial and
non-financial performance. Past research studies (Szopik-Depczyn
ska and Cheba, 2021;
Orus et al., 2021; Metcalf et al., 2021; Pearson, 2019) have established that there are various
determinants that define AIM and also impact on different performance metrics of business
organizations. Meltcalf et al. (2019) proposed the innovative collaborative technology (i.e. a
determinant of AIM) known as artificial swarm intelligence supported by collaborative
decision-making theory, which facilitates an enhanced enterprise collaboration network
capability and also impact on decision-making process performance with enterprises.
Szopik-Depczyn
ska and Cheba (2021) provide empirical evidence which prove that in a
globalized network, business enterprises are acknowledging the capability of AI-enabled
Internet of Things (IOT) as a platform for marketing activities such as co-creating value
with customers. According to Szopik-Depczyn
ska and Cheba (2021), IOT (i.e. a determinant
of AIM) impacts on the collaborative innovation process of enterprises and also critical
value co-creation process. In the same vein, Pearson (2019) illustrate how AIM will become
the basis for customer personalization that will not only be acknowledged but be required
by unpredictable customers everywhere. Orus et al. (2021) also provide research findings
that show virtual and augmented reality (VAR) (i.e. a determinant of AIM) provide contents
with high levels of factual realism which have a positive impact on perceptions of presence,
ease of customer imagination and visual appeal and on purchase intentions. These findings
emphasize the significance of inducing presence as a critical influencer of consumer
behavior intentions.
JEEE Based on the existing studies, this current study develops an RBV-oriented framework
for AIM and it impact on the performance of SMEs. In this framework, AIM is defined by
collaborative decision-making systems (CDMS), internet of things (IOT), virtual and
augmented reality (VAR) and personalization, while SME performance is defined by the
balanced scorecard (BSC) variables (Kaplan and Norton, 1992) because it captures both
financial and non-financial performance variables including financial, customer, internal
business process and learning and growth.
The purpose of this current study is to empirically investigate how AIM impacts the
performance of SMEs, particularly, in the context of an emerging economy. Despite the
growing recognition of AIM application in practice, past studies have predominantly
focused on the algorithms for implementing AI, the effect of AI on businesses from the
macroeconomic perspective (Huang, Rust and Maksimovic, 2019) and the application of
AIM planning (Huang and Rust, 2021b). Therefore, empirical investigations that guide the
application of AIM and also ascertains its impact on both financial and non-financial
performance of SMEs is limited.
The main objective of this study is to empirically examine the relationship between AIM
and SME performance. This current study, therefore, addresses the research question:

RQ1. How the effectiveness of AIM is measured and evaluated by using key business
performance metrics?
Also, this present research study makes two contributions to the AIM literature. First, this
study further enhances the research on AIM by using the determinants of AIM (i.e. CDMS,
IOT, VAR) and personalization to explore its impact on SME performance. Second, present
literature on AIM lacks in taking into consideration the multiple dimensions of AIM, which
restricts the understanding of the mechanism of how AIM impacts business organization
performance. This current study uses multiple dimensions of AIM to provide insight into
the mechanism of how AIM impacts the performance of business enterprises.

2. Literature review
2.1 Theoretical development
RBV theory according to Barney et al. (2011) is a theory that analyses the internal resources
and capabilities of a business organization, helping the generation of competitive advantage
and performance. For that reason, RBV theory assesses the capabilities and resources of a
business organization and examines their attributes (Mansour et al., 2022). Also, RBV
supports the view that achievement of a continuous competitive advantage and
performance could be generated by the distinctive blend of resources and capabilities at the
nucleus of the business organization (Bhandari et al., 2022). Business organizations could
attain continuous competitive advantage and performance provided they can leverage on
their internal resources such as AIM with its associated determinants including AI-enabled
IoT, CDMS, VAR and personalization. According to the RBV theory, the application of AIM
and its determinants (i.e. AI-enabled IoT, CDMS, VAR and personalization) in the SME
sector could help SMEs bring about the development of particular “intelligent capabilities”
(Haleem et al., 2022; Amoako et al., 2021; Kazmi et al., 2021). Davenport (2019) emphasize
that these capabilities should provide SMEs with the role of communication and information
sharing with customers, collaborative decision-making, experiential marketing and
personalization. Therefore, these capabilities cannot be acquired or passed on, instead can
only be obtained through continuous development and application.
In spite of the fact that AIM is important to a business organization’s continuity and
endurance, research is still in progress as researchers are making an effort to harmonize
AIM with organizational performance. For example, the study by Wu and Monfort (2022) Impact of
shows that the implementation of an AIM strategy positively affects performance. However, artificial
Lin et al. (2020) are of the view that investment in AIM resources and capability can be
duplicated by competitors without difficulty. Osakwe et al. (2022) emphasize that
intelligence
organizational investment into AIM resources and capabilities does not necessarily bring
about competitive advantage and performance. Instead, it is how business enterprises take
advantage of their investments in AIM to develop distinct AIM resources and competences
that establish the general accomplishment of an organization (Osakwe et al., 2022).
According to Kaplan and Haenlein, (2019), AIM competences (i.e. IoT, CDMS, VAR and
personalization) are rare and can be peculiar to a particular business organization, which
can bring about continuous competitive advantage and performance.
However, RBV has been criticized, in that “rare” resources possessed by business
organization may not necessarily bring about competitive advantage and performance (Lee
et al., 2015). Consequently, business organizations must develop performance metrics to
consistently measure the effect of the operationalization of “rare” resources and capabilities
on performance (Ofori and Appiah-Nimo, 2022). This study therefore adopts the RBV theory
because it captures the interactions and associations of AIM as an important resource and
capability that SMEs can own uniquely, to attain a competitive advantage over industry
competitors and also attain a superior performance. Furthermore, previous literature
(Stroumpoulis et al., 2022; Osakwe et al., 2022) has applied the RBV theory to establish the
relationship between AIM resources such as CDMS, communication and information
sharing (IoT), experience marketing (VAR) and personalization to generate performance in
terms of financial, customers, internal business process and learning and growth.

2.2 Artificial intelligence in marketing

According to Shankar (2018), AI “refers to programs, algorithms, systems and machines
that demonstrate intelligence”. AI is demonstrated by machines that display certain features
of human intelligence and includes machines that imitates “intelligent human behaviour”
(Davenport et al., 2019). AI depends on different vital technologies, such as deep learning,
NLP, machines learning, neural networks, decision process automation (Huang and Rust,
2018). The application of these important technological tools makes it possible for AI to
decipher externally generated data accurately, obtain insight from such data and present
pliable modification (Kaplan and Haenlein, 2019). Then again, the description of AI is not
only based on its primary technology but instead its application in marketing and business
domains such as obtaining knowledge from data, automating business processes or
customer and employee engagement (Davenport and Ronanki, 2018). For example, the AI-
based ad placement algorithm by Facebook gathers a wealth of personal data in order to
improve segmentation and targeting (Bleier et al., 2020). AIM provides support to SMEs in
the accurate prediction of customer needs and also contributes to the creation of customer
value proposition through the use of AI-powered value co-creation enabler (Bag et al., 2021a,
2021b). AIM solutions enhance and streamline marketing promotions while removing
uncertainties associated with human errors. SMEs can therefore capitalize on AIM
capabilities to develop marketing analytics techniques for targeting potential customers,
accurately predict consumer behavior toward products and services and also create
contextualized customer value proposition to arrive at the best product or service
consumption experience (Kazmi et al., 2021). AIM application by SMEs can be extended to
the execution of tactical tasks that require minimum human involvement and also boost the
effort of SMEs’ marketing team.
JEEE These characteristics of AIM makes collaborative decision-making, perception of presence
through factual realism, co-creation through IOT platforms and personalization critical
variables, because it provides high level enterprise networking and interactivity between
business organizations and consumers (Haleem et al., 2022). The research study by Huang and
Rust (2022) develops a framework for collaborative AIM, which provide a systematic guidance
on how human marketers and consumers can team up with AI. This has strong implications
for business organizations, in that collaborative AI such as collaborative decision-making
systems serves as interface between marketing team and consumers. However, research
finding by Xiong et al. (2022) shows that in risky decision-making, a human decision-maker is
susceptible to cognitive biases when deciding the possible results of a risky event, whereas an
AI-enabled collaborative decision-making system cannot handle new and dynamic contexts
with insufficient data or information properly.
The research finding by Saheb et al. (2022) show that technical features of IOT, such as
continuous connectivity and real-time value, provide effective stimuli for products and
services, positively impacts on consumers’ reaction and behavioral implications related to
products or service utilization. However, IOT risks such as data, performance and financial
have negative impact on their ease of use (Saheb et al., 2022).
In the same vein, the finding of the study by Kumar et al. (2019) shows that AI aids in
personalized engagement marketing by means of creating, communicating and delivering
personalized offering to customers. Again, the study by Kumar et al. (2019) indicates that
consumers are prepared for a new experience in which AI is a tool for limitless alternatives
and information that are narrowed and customized in a personalized way. However,
research finding by Measures (2021) indicates that AI-driven personalization in marketing
introduces enterprise and reputational risk around three main areas: regulatory compliance
(i.e. increasing consumer requirement for greater control over data related to them and how
it is utilized in the digital space); lack of control (i.e. AI-enabled machine operating
independently to achieve a pre-set purpose); and ethical considerations (how consumers
want business enterprises to operate in the right way).
Furthermore, the research finding by Orus et al. (2021) shows that marketing
communication contents with high level of factual realism provided by AI-enabled VAR
have a positive effect on perceptions of presence, ease of imagination and visual appeal and
purchase decisions. However, the research finding by Malik et al. (2020) indicate that many
marketing applications associated to AI and VAR experience were established but no
success rate was identified due to lack of familiarity with the critical attributes to the
technology. AIM, therefore, presents an immense intervention for SMEs to understand their
customers by addressing the complex consumer requirement through predictive marketing
analytics, smarter and faster decision-making, contextual and personalized communication
content generation and value co-creation with customers (Huang and Rust, 2018). Also,
business organizations including SMEs must be conscious of the challenges associated with
the application of AIM to fully maximize the positive impact of AIM on enterprise
performance. This current study therefore, focuses on four determinants that define AIM
which include IOT (Hoffman and Novak, 2018), CDMS (Metcalf et al., 2019),VAR (Wedel
et al., 2020) and personalization (Tong, Luo and Bo, 2020).
2.2.1 Internet of Things. IOT has generated a lot of interest with respect to AIM in recent
years (Hoffman and Novak; Szopik-Depczy
nska and Cheba, 2021). IOT comprise of network of
physical objects such as network of computers and all types of networks of device (e.g. smart
phones) that are connected to the internet to bring about communication and information
sharing founded on specified procedures so as to attain smart modifications, real-time online
monitoring, online upgrade and process control and administration (Mohamed, 2020). A basic
IOT system should consist of self-optimizing network and software defined networks, which Impact of
helps to enhance the network for enormous data transmission and reception (Osuwa et al., artificial
2017). The enormous volume of data collected via the connected IOT devices to the internet
allows AIM algorithms and methods to analyze and learn from the generated data so as to
intelligence
create customer value and superior services (Kankanhalli et al., 2019). Therefore, IOT provides
unprecedented opportunity to business organizations such as SMEs to use technology that
allows them to interact with internet users across the globe through the application of analyzed
data from AIM (Purwanto et al., 2020). However, IOT and AI technologies have its own
challenges, and the fusion of both technologies in the field of marketing presents even more
complex challenges such as data security; compatibility and complexity in combining and
unifying devices; issues with AI systems and algorithms understanding and interpretation of
data sets for accurate and meaning decision-making; lack of confidence about IoT device
protection and integrity of data sets created; risk of data security, for example cloud attacks by
harmful virus (Katare et al., 2018).
2.2.2 Collaborative decision-making system. An increasing body of research illustrates
how AIM is helping business organizations such as SMEs make better decisions (Metcalf
et al., 2019; Stone et al., 2020). CDMS involves decision-making that requires the involvement
of several stakeholders whose inputs are important in final decision by leveraging on
analyzed data sets and learning from AIM technology (Metcalf et al., 2019). AIM creates
value for SMEs by analyzing and learning (i.e. machine learning) very huge sets of data and
providing understanding to decision-making, in so doing enhancing and fast-tracking the
collaborative decision-making process. Instances of how AIM can be exploited by business
decision makers (e.g. SME owners or managers) span from gathering customer insights to
providing more precise customer value propositions (Agrawal et al., 2018). The introduction
of AIM promotes the acceleration of more accurate decision-making in the direction of
collaborative decision-making in the business organizations (Zarat
e et al., 2013). CDMS
integrates numerous insights of solutions to enterprise problem through the input of
different participants and use of analyzed data and machine learning of AIM. This gives rise
to a better description of business problems and accurate decision-making under
unpredictable business conditions that allows the identification of enterprise opportunities
(Amoako et al., 2021). However, the research finding of Campion et al. (2022) reveal the most
critical challenges confronting AI-enabled CDMS in the field of marketing include the
resistance to sharing data mainly because of privacy and security issues, limited insight of
needed and available data, a lack of correlation between marketing interests and
expectations associated to data sharing and a lack of consultation across organizational
hierarchy.
2.2.3 Virtual and augmented reality. In virtual reality (VR), customers of business
organizations including SMEs are totally engrossed in a virtual environment (Wedel et al.,
2020; Wagner and Cozmiuc, 2022). According to Wedel et al. (2020), VR is described as:
[. . .] a computer-generated simulation of a situation that integrates the user, who perceives it
through one or more senses (i.e., vision, hearing and touch) and interacts with it in such a way
that seems to be real.
Augmented reality (AR), on the other hand, may also be defined as “a combination of digital
information with the real world that is presented in real-time” (Scholz and Duffy, 2018). In
AR, digital accessories are used to overlay additional sensory information such as sounds,
objects, avatars and graphics (Wagner and Cozmiuc, 2022). AR and VR powered by AI has
become essential as SMEs are presenting new types and means of making their products
and services graphically more attractive and noticeable so as to distribute information about
JEEE their offerings and improve the consumer experience in real time (Huang and Liao, 2015).
The multiple roles of AR and VR in marketing creativities can be seen as one of the types of
experiential marketing, as the fundamental foci is the creation of a rounded consumer-
oriented experience rather than exclusive service offering (Hong and Han, 2020). For
example, Kazmi et al. (2021) emphasized that AR and VR uses analyzed data and machine
learning AI which allows them (i.e. AR and VR) to captivate consumers with a holistic
experience they request and will be excited about. In recent years the use of VR and AR as a
technique of experiential marketing has brought about consumer benefit creation through
successful brand–consumer partnership and consumer experience by bringing about
recognized quality of experience (Yuan and Wu, 2008). SMEs should therefore, develop an
experience for the consumer which can be attained through VR and AR in the marketing of
products and services with machine learning AI enablement (Kazmi, et al., 2021). Today, VR
and AR powered by AI facilitates the communication of products/service features of brand,
thereby giving rise to brand awareness in real-time as consumers experiences are reinforced
(Gupta et al., 2019). Conversely, the empirical findings by Eskengren and Hultin (2022)
indicate that AI-enabled VAR marketing is perceived as time-consuming, undependable and
difficult to use. Additionally, consumers consider AI-enabled VAR marketing beneficial
only when product or service attributes meet their purchase intentions; therefore, AI-enabled
VAR marketing might not be relevant to implement in every business organization
(Eskengren and Hultin, 2022).
2.2.4 Personalization. Personalization is the process of using AI technologies (i.e.
machine learning and data analysis) and devices (i.e. smart mobile apps, computers, social
media software) to tailor messages or experiences to consumers interacting with a business
organization such as SMEs (Pearson, 2019; Tong et al., 2020). The operation of AI-oriented
technology at a personal level leads to the creation of an appealing intimacy with the users.
In addition, SMEs can exploit such appealing intimacies, which provides opportunities for
customer value creation (Kumar et al., 2019). However, the viability of personalization
initiatives by SMEs could be restricted by factors such as volume and quality of information
related to customers, inability of SMEs to generate knowledge from customer data sets,
effective operationalization of knowledge generated from customer data sets (Pearson, 2019).
To prevail over these three restrictions, and surpass the existing personalization levels, SME
should use AI-powered solutions. Additionally, hyper-personalization is the most innovative
means SMEs can customize their marketing to individual customers (Jaffery, 2022). This
requires SMEs to create a tailored and targeted experiences through the application of
analytics, data, machine learning AI and automation. Through the application of hyper-
personalization technology, SMEs can send extremely contextualized communications to a
particular customer at the ideal location and time, and via the ideal medium. As AIM
becomes increasingly competitive, hyper-personalized marketing technique presents an
opportunity for business organizations such as SMEs to constructively involve customers,
reinforce current relationships and develop innovative ones and enhance the customer
experience (Tong et al., 2020; Jaffery, 2022). The execution of this kind of strategy gives rise
to brand loyalty, readiness to spend and general effectiveness of marketing aside customer
satisfaction (Jaffery, 2022). Conversely, the findings of the research by Gao and Liu (2022) on
AIP in interactive marketing reveal that once a business organization decides to integrate
AIP into its marketing strategy, then they need to consider that AIP needs a substantial
number of resource inputs. However, the efficient acquisition, mobilization and utilization of
resources for AIP purposes still remains a challenge for business enterprises (Gao and Liu,
2022; Kumar et al., 2019). Similarly, how AIP integrates with other marketing strategies and
tactics and how the effectiveness of AIP is measured and assessed at each level of the
customer experience presents challenges to business enterprises (Wang et al., 2021; De Carlo Impact of
et al., 2021). artificial
2.2.5 Performance. A company’s performance is an intricate and multi-layered
phenomenon that consist of diverse perspective of the company, a unit or a task
intelligence
accomplishment. Carneiro et al. (2007) contend that it is not practicable to explicate
performance accomplishment using just one perspective or single metric. Their viewpoint
emphasizes the fact that diverse perspectives must be taken into consideration when assessing
whether performance has been attained or not. This makes it possible for performance
attainment by organizations to be understood through diverse perspectives and not from a
single perspective. Performance measurement of AIM strategy has created much attention over
the years in diverse business disciplines (including SMEs) in diverse sectors. The application of
traditional financial metrics as an aspect of the performance measurement system has hugely
been criticized in recent years. Specifically, extant literature has recognized that traditional
financial performance measurements have many limitations and challenges associated with it
(Lawson et al., 2005; Hoque and James, 2000; Kaplan and Norton, 1992). These limitations and
challenges arise from extreme focus on short-term performance objective through the usage of
metrics such as earnings/returns, short of concentration on long-term performance metrics such
as customer delight and product or service superiority, enterprise endurance and sustainability
(Suprapto et al., 2009). Typically, the primary concentration on short-term financial accounting
metrics might no longer provide a satisfactory information of sound performance for business
organization (Vu Thi et al., 2018). On the other hand, Sofian et al. (2015) argue that innovative
performance metrics are hinged on non-financial factors and provides prominence to factors
such as flexibility, quality and delivery performance. Therefore, it can be stated that financial
metrics are not enough for the determination of decisions in present-day enterprise. To gather
pertinent performance metrics required to measure AIM, business organizations such as SMEs
should consider both financial and non-financial metrics (Giannopoulos et al., 2013). A number
of methods are applied in gauging the impact of AIM in a business organization such as SMEs.
They include Lynch and Cross (1991) “performance pyramid”; Neely et al. (2002) “performance
prism”; Fitzgerald et al. (1991) “results and determinants” framework; and most notably Kaplan
and Norton (1992) “balanced scorecard” approach. The concentration of this current research
study is centered on the use of the BSC approach (i.e. financial, customer, internal business
process, learning and growth) because is a performance theory that uses both financial and
non-financial metrics. Despite the benefits BSC brings to performance measurement, it has
been criticized for not integrating social, environmental, risk and enterprise endurance/
sustainability as well as overlooking the interests of other important stakeholders apart from
customers are the crucial limitations of the BSC, which could threaten its adoption in practice
(Amer et al., 2022; Askarany, 2017).

3. Conceptual model and hypothesis development

Eventually, the aim of RBV theory is to estimate and assess the association between specific
resources and capabilities controlled by a business organization and continuous
performance. In quantitative terms, continuous performance (i.e. financial, customer,
internal business process and learning and growth) is the “outcome”, whereas resources and
capabilities represented by AIM is the “predictor”. To empirically test the relationship
between AIM and performance (i.e. financial, customer, internal business process and
learning and growth), a conceptual framework is created based on the RBV theory and
reviewed literature on AIM and performance. In this conceptual framework, AIM is the
predictor defined by factors including IoT, CDMS, VAR and personalization, while SME
performance consisting of financial performance, customer performance, internal business
JEEE process performance and learning and growth performance are the outcome variables.
Figure 1 illustrates this conceptualized research framework. The next section discusses the
hypothesized relationship between the current research constructs.

3.1 Artificial intelligence in marketing and financial performance

According to Eriksson et al. (2020), in recent years, AIM has been progressively integrated into
vital organizational operations, bringing about business growth and performance in different
sectors. AIM lessens costs and improves marketing team output through the automation of
data-driven task that personalize the experience of customers and increase revenue (Mishra and
Pani, 2020). Additionally, the research finding by Enholm (2021) indicates that business
organizations that have executed AIM solutions have achieved financial performance
improvements such as cost reduction and revenue increase. In the same vein, the empirical
study by Mikalef and Gupta (2021) found that firms that have established an organized method
to AIM acceptance and implementation, and established an organizational competence based
on the innovative technologies have achieved financial performance and growth. Furthermore,
their research study shows that AI capability has a positive effect on financial and accounting
performance metrics including general financial performance.
Therefore, founded on the preceding discussion and empirical evidence this study
hypothesizes that:

H1. AIM has a positive significant effect on financial performance of SMEs in Ghana.

3.2 Artificial intelligence in marketing and customer performance

According to Enholm et al. (2021), the application of AIM by business organization brings
about several gains including customer performance. A typical means through which AIM

ARTIFICIAL SME PERFORMANCE

INTELLIGENCE IN
MARKETING (AIM)

AIM SME PERFORMANCE

FINANCIAL PERFORMANCE
INTERNET-OF-THINGS
(TOT)
H1
COLLABORATIVE
DECISION-MAKING
CUSTOMER PERFORMANCE
SYSTEM (CDMS) H2

VIRTUAL AND
AUGMENTED REALITY H3
(VAR) INTERNAL BUSINESS PROCESS
PERFORMANCE
PERSONALIZATION H4

LEARNING AND GROWTH

Figure 1. PERFORMANCE
Conceptual model
can generate customer performance is by segmenting customers established on their needs Impact of
so as to accurately target customer segments with diverse and personalized marketing artificial
techniques. According to the research finding of Mishra and Pani (2020), AIM improves the
segmentation of customers through processing and learning from current data, thereby
intelligence
allowing business organizations such as SMEs to learn about choices of customers in an
innovative way. Therefore, AIM improves customer performance through the correct
targeting of customers with the correct or most appropriate marketing strategy (Makarius
et al., 2020). AIM presents to business organizations opportunities to learn about dynamism
in consumer behavior, so as to apply this improved insight to avoid or eliminate any
undesirable customer experience. Eriksson et al. (2020) emphasize that AIM applications in
small businesses, therefore, comes as a huge gain since it aids in the identification of
customer motivations and behavior to create customer map across the consumer buying
process. Previous empirical evidence has found a positive relationship between AIM and
customer performance (Mishra and Pani, 2020). Therefore, founded on the preceding
discussion and empirical evidence this study hypothesizes that:

H2. AIM has a positive significant effect on customer performance of SMEs in Ghana.

3.3 Artificial intelligence in marketing and internal business process performance

According to Wamba-Taguimdje et al. (2020), AIM is a novel technology that allows
business organizations such as SMEs to invent and revolutionize internal business process.
The main purpose of internal business processes of business is to transform business
organization’s effort into beneficial yields, and AIM which is an innovative technology
is estimated to enhance these processes by means of drastic conversion (Enholm et al., 2021).
AIM allows the restructuring of internal business processes with the aim of drastically
transforming how existing marketing routines are carried out. Based on this process, AIM
also serves as an important catalyst for redeveloping and remodeling the present structure
of business organizations such as SMEs (Mishra and Pani, 2020). AIM influences working
practices of employees, thereby bringing about transformation in the internal business
process and structures of business organizations. In the same vein, the application of AIM
presents novel competence for SME owners, manages and employee that allows them to
integrate their roles with AI (Verma et al., 2021). As a result, this requires restructuring of
existing marketing task description so as to capture new task. The research finding by
Davenport et al. (2020) shows that AIM can automate the business process, learn new
knowledge from past data and derive consumer and market knowledge by means of
program-based algorithm. Previous empirical evidence has found a positive relationship
between AIM and internal business process performance (Eriksson et al., 2020). Therefore,
founded on the preceding discussion and empirical evidence this study hypothesizes that:

H3. AIM has a positive significant effect on internal business process performance of
SMEs in Ghana.

3.4 Artificial intelligence in marketing and learning and growth performance

According to Mikalef and Gupta (2021), AIM presents learning opportunities to business
organizations such as SME through the use of insights and processed data sets by AI to
generate knowledge. Through data collection, processing and distribution of data set, AI has
the capability to provide formerly unidentified information for which SMEs can learn and
generate knowledge thereby allowing them make decisions based on insight. As a result, SMEs
JEEE should device avenues through which they can exploit AIM capability to obtain superior
understanding and knowledge which is expected to provide competitive advantage (Liu et al.,
2020). The valuable information provided by AIM can be learned by SMEs to improve the
quality level of their decision-making and also make accurate predictions about consumer
behavior. Therefore, AIM supports SME managers or owners to prevail over their reasoning
constraints through the use of machine learning which analyzes huge volume of data set
(Najjar, 2019). This empowers SMEs to accelerate their learning on delivering exceptional
customer experience from acquisition to retention which result in their growth and
performance (Khera, 2019). Previous empirical evidence has found a positive relationship
between AIM and learning and growth performance (Bag et al., 2021a, 2021b). Therefore,
founded on the preceding discussion and empirical evidence this study hypothesizes that:

H4. AIM has a positive significant effect on learning and growth performance of SMEs
in Ghana.

4. Research methodology
4.1 Sample and data collection
The target population for this research study consist of SMEs in the Eastern Region of
Ghana that were on the registered list of the Ghana Enterprise Agency. SMEs in the Eastern
Region of Ghana were selected as the target population because they are more likely to
expose extensive relations among this study’s indicators. Also, they represent various
population which would improve the generalizability of this study results. The population
encompass SMEs in different sectors in the Eastern Region of Ghana. Stratified random
sampling technique was used to select a sample size of 230. This study used a survey
strategy approach to collect primary data from SME respondents due to its appropriateness
for social scientists and also collecting data from populations too large to be observed. Of the
sum of 230 questionnaires distributed, 225 completed questionnaires were retrieved for the
final data analysis, representing a response rate of 98%. This denotes an acceptable
response rate for precision and confidence needed in research.

4.2 Measurement of instrument

The research study scales were applied based on prior research work. Appropriate
adjustments were undertaken in order to fit the present research background and
purpose. “Artificial intelligence marketing (AIM)” measure used six-item scales modified
from Hoffman and Novak (2018), Metcalf et al. (2019), Wedel et al. (2020) and Tong, Luo
and Bo (2020). “Financial performance” used seven-item scales; “customer performance”
used seven-item scales; “internal business process performance” used nine-item scales;
and “learning and growth performance” used nine-items scales, all modified from Kaplan
and Norton (1992). All the dimension items were measured on a five-point Likert-type
scales that was based on 1 = strongly disagree to 5 = strongly agree to explain the level
of agreement.

4.3 Data analysis

Initial coding and data entry from answered and validated questionnaires were
undertaken using SPSS version 23. STATA 15.1 was then used to analyze the coded and
imputed data for confirmatory factor analysis, reliability (i.e. Cronbach’s alpha and
composite reliability [CR]) and validity (i.e. convergent and discriminant validity)
analyses. This study produced statistical analyses such as descriptive statistics, factor
analysis, reliability and validity for variables used. To examine the hypotheses on the Impact of
relationship between AIM and SME performance, a linear regression model was artificial
estimated using the structural equational modelling (SEM) method. Artificial intelligence
in marketing (AIMi) represented the independent construct while the dependent construct
intelligence
is represented by SME performance constructs comprising of financial performance (FPi),
customer performance (CPi), internal business process performance (IBPPi) and learning
and growth performance (LGPi). The linear regression equation for the study model is
therefore represented as:
AIMi = bo þ b1FPi þ b2CPi þ b3IBPPi þ b4LGPi þ m

5. Results
5.1 Respondents’ profile
The demographic description of the sample is presented in a cross tabulation in Table 1. The
demographic information of respondents was reported according to gender, age group, level
of education, ownership structure of food processing SME, operation duration of food
processing SME, size of the food processing SME in terms of number of employees and
current position of respondents in their SME. The median age groups were 18–30 years
(46.22%, comprising 64.42% females and 35.58% males) and 31–40years (38.67%,
comprising 71.26% female and 28.74%).

Male Female Total

Demographic items n (%) n (%) n (%)

Age groups
18–30 37 (49.33) 67 (44.67) 104 (46.22)
31–40 25 (33.33) 62 (41.33) 87 (38.67)
41–50 7 (9.33) 16 (10.67) 23 (10.22)
51–60 6 (8.01) 5 (3.33) 11 (4.89)
Total 75 (100) 150 (100) 225 (100)
Ownership structure
Sole proprietorship 41 (54.67) 118 (78.67) 159 (70.67)
Partnership 24 (32) 25 (16.67) 49 (21.78)
Limited liability 8 (13.33) 7 (4.67) 17 (7.55)
Total 75 (100) 150 (100) 225 (100)
Current position
Owner manager 27 (36) 86 (57.33) 113 (50.22)
General manager 27 (36) 22 (14.67) 49 (21.78)
Non-managerial 21 (28) 42 (28) 63 (28)
Total 75 (100) 150 (100) 225 (100)
Enterprise size
1 – 8 (Small) 41 (54.67) 101 (67.33) 142 (63.11)
9 – 100 (Medium) 34 (45.33) 49 (32.67) 83 (36.89)
Total 75 (100) 150 (100) 225 (100)
Operation duration
2 years 19 (25.33) 35 (23.33) 54 (24)
>2 years 56 (74.67) 115 (76.67) 171 (76)
Total 75 (100) 150 (100) 225 (100) Table 1.
Demographic profile
Source: Abrokwah-Larbi (2020) of respondents
JEEE The AIM measurement items are given as follows:
 AIM1 = AIM helps my enterprise to accurately predict customer needs.
 AIM2 = AIM support the marketing promotion of my enterprise through the elimination
of human errors.
 AIM3 = AIM enables my enterprise to interact with internet users through the application
of analyzed data.
 AIM4 = AIM is important to the collaborative decision-making process in my enterprise.
 AIM5 = AIM has increased my enterprises’ brand awareness in real-time.
 AIM6 = AIM enable my enterprise to personalize its marketing activities to individual
customers.

Performance measurement items are given as follows:

Financial performance (FP):
 FP7 = My firm’s profitability is satisfactory.
 FP8 = My firm’s market share is high compared to competitors.
 FP9 = The financial performance of my firm is supported by a sustainable approach.
 FP10 = Maximizing profitability is a key business goal of my firm.
 FP11 = My firm plans the sales revenue growth of all products/services.
 FP12 = Managers of my firm are pursing innovative strategy to improve its return
on investment, ROI
 FP13 = Productivity improvement is important to my firm’s financial objective.

Customer performance (CP):

 CP14 = Customer retention has increased in my firm within the last two years.
 CP15 = My firm has realized a steady increase of new customers in the last two years.
 CP16 = Product or service sales to new customers has increased in the last two years.
 CP17 = Product or service sales to existing customers has increased in the last two
years.
 CP18 = Customer switching cost has increased within the last two years.
 CP19 = My firm uses innovative methods of targeting customers instead of traditional
methods.
 CP20 = My firm uses technology to improve customer experience.

Internal business process performance (IBPP):

 IBPP21 = My firm’s customer management process contributes to customer
value addition.
 IBPP22 = My firm’s process enhancement methodology is efficient and effective.
 IBPP23 = My firm captures employee contribution into business process designs
 IBPP24 = My firm use technology to develop new business processes.
 IBPP25 = Duration of production in my firm has decreased in the last two years.
 IBPP26 = Customer complaint processes duration is shorter compared to
competitors.
  IBPP27 = My firm integrates customer requirement into its business processes. Impact of
 IBPP28 = My firm is resourced with technology for new product development. artificial
 IBPP29 = My firm’s internal processes contribute to customer satisfaction. intelligence
Learning and growth performance (LGP):
 LGP30 = My firm have sufficient skilled and motivated employees.
 LGP31 = We have quality database and information system to support our learning
and growth.
 LGP32 = My firm has the right organizational culture to achieve its business process
objectives.
 LGP33 = My firm provide frequent learning opportunities for our employees though
different capacity building programs.
 LGP34 = My firm has seen a steady reduction in employee turn-over rate in the last
two years.
 LGP35 = We use technology enabled approach to obtain customer insights.
 LGP36 = My firm integrates employee suggestions into its business process approach.
 LGP37 = Our business methodologies support knowledge and competence development.
 LGP38 = We gather new information about new products or services.

5.2 Construct reliability and validity

The analysis of the reliability and validity of AIM and performance constructs shows
that AIM met the threshold requirement for sampling appropriateness using six items
(i.e. AIMI, AIM2, AIM3, AIM4, AIM5 and AIM6; see Tables 2 and 4). The Kaiser–
Meyer–Olkin (KMO) measurement of sampling appropriateness for the six items of
AIM was 0.88 which is greater than the required minimum value of 0.70, thus
confirming the appropriateness of items of AIM. In the same vein, the factor loading
values of AIM i.e. AIM1 (0.73), AIM2 (0.71), AIM3 (0.73), AIM4 (0.71), AIM5 (0.71) and
AIM6 (0.72) were all suitable to be retained, as their factor loading values were greater
than the minimum required value of 0.50 (Malhotra et al., 2017). Cronbach’s alpha (a)
for AIM was 0.87, which is greater than the minimum required value of 0.7. This shows
that there is high internal reliability of items of AIM. The CR of AIM items was
estimated due to Cronbach’s alpha’s (a) sensitivity to number of items and its tendency
to undervalue the internal consistency reliability (Malhotra et al., 2017). The CR of
items of AIM was found to be 0.86, which is greater than the minimum required value
of 0.7. Table 2 shows that the average factor loading (AFL) value of the six items of
AIM was 0.72, which exceeded the minimum required value of 0.7. Also, the average
variance extracted (AVE) value of AIM was 0.51, which was greater than the minimum
required value of 0.50. Convergent validity of items of AIM was established, as the
AFL and AVE values of items of AIM was greater than their minimum required
values. Similarly, Table 2 indicate that the AVE value of items of AIM which is 0.51
was greater than its corresponding correlation matrix squared value of 0.006, which
establishes the discriminant validity of items of AIM. On the other hand, the
constructs of SME performance which comprises of financial performance (i.e. seven
items), customer performance (i.e. six items), internal business process performance
(i.e. nine items) and learning and growth performance (i.e. nine items) all met the
threshold requirement for sampling appropriateness (Table 3). The KMO values of
JEEE Factor Cronbach’s Composite Average factor Correlation
Factor Items load alpha (a) KMO reliability loading* AVE** matrix square

Artificial AIM1 0.73 0.867 0.88 0.86 0.72 0.51 0.006

Intelligence AIM2 0.71
in Marketing AIM3 0.73
AIM4 0.71
AIM5 0.71
AIM6 0.72
Table 2.
Notes: *Average factor loading > 0.7, convergent validity established; **Average variance extracted
Factor analysis, (AVE) > Correlation matrix squared; discriminant validity established; ***AIM – Artificial intelligence in
reliability and marketing
validity of AIM items Source: Abrokwah-Larbi (2020)

financial performance, FP (0.93), customer performance, CP (0.91), internal business

process performance, IBPP (0.92) and learning and growth performance, LGP (0.91)
were all greater than the minimum required value of 0.5, in that way confirming their
appropriateness. Similarly, the factor loading values of all items of SME performance
constructs were the same or greater than the minimum required value of 0.5, which
confirms the appropriateness of the items to be retained (Tables 3 and Artificial
intelligence in marketing (AIM) and SME performance measurement items). The
Cronbach’s alpha (a) for financial performance (0.90), customer performance (0.91),
internal business process performance (0.91) and learning and growth performance
(0.91) were found to be greater than the minimum required value of 0.70, which then
confirms the internal consistency acceptability of items of SME performance
constructs. Similarly, the composite reliability (CR) of financial performance (0.92),
customer performance (0.91), internal business process performance (0.91) and
learning and growth performance (0.91) were all found to be greater than the minimum
required value of 0.70, which indicates a strong internal reliability of items of SME
performance constructs. Also, the convergent validities of financial performance (AFL
(0.78) > 0.50), customer performance (AFL (0.76) > 0.50), internal business process
performance (AFL (0.73) > 0.50) and learning and growth performance (AFL
(0.73) > 0.50) were established, as the AFL of items of SME performance constructs were
greater than the minimum required value of 0.50 (Malhotra et al., 2017). The discriminant
validities of financial performance (AVE (0.62) > correlation matrix squared (0.00), customer
performance [AVE (0.58) > correlation matrix squared (0.00)], internal business
process performance [AVE (0.53) > correlation matrix squared (0.00)], and learning and
growth performance [AVE (0.54) > correlation matrix squared (0.00)] were established, as the
AVE values of items of SME performance constructs were greater than their corresponding
correlation matrix squared values (Table 3).

5.3 Regression analysis and hypotheses tests

The initial hypothesis proposed in this research study establishes a positive relationship
between AIM and financial performance. The hypothesis is therefore presented as H1. AIM
has a positive significant effect on financial performance of SMEs in Ghana. Table 4 indicates
that AIM has a positive and significant effect on financial performance (H1: b = 0.45, p-value <
0.001). This study also establishes that AIM significantly increases the effect of financial
performance among SMEs in Ghana by 45% (i.e. b = 0.45). Hence, AIM is a vital strategy that
 Average
Impact of
Factor Cronbach Composite factor Correlation artificial
Factors Items load alpha (a) KMO reliability load* AVE** matrix square intelligence
Financial FP7 0.50 0.90 0.93 0.92 0.78 0.62 0.00
performance FP8 0.84
FP9 0.82
FP10 0.81
FP11 0.79
FP12 0.86
FP13 0.84
Customer CP14 0.81 0.91 0.91 0.91 0.76 0.58 0.00
performance CP15 0.77
CP16 0.84
CP17 0.77
CP18 0.74
CP19 0.70
Internal IBPP20 0.74 0.91 0.92 0.91 0.73 0.53 0.00
business IBPP21 0.73
process IBPP22 0.60
performance IBPP23 0.79
IBPP24 0.75
IBPP25 0.77
IBPP26 0.77
IBPP27 0.68
IBPP28 0.71
Learning and LGP29 0.74 0.91 0.91 0.91 0.73 0.54 0.00
growth LGP30 0.71
performance LGP31 0.77
LGP32 0.72
LGP33 0.60
LGP34 0.73
LGP35 0.80
LGP36 0.78
LGP37 0.81 Table 3.
Factor analysis,
Notes: *Average factor loading > 0.7, convergent validity established, **Average variance extracted reliability and
(AVE) > Correlation matrix squared; discriminant validity established ***FP – Financial performance;
CP – Customer performance; IBPP – Internal business process performance; LGP – Learning and growth validity of
performance performance
Source: Abrokwah-Larbi (2020) variables

Construct relationship Standardized coefficient beta (b) p-value 95% Confidence interval

FP
AIM 0.45 < 0.001 0.333 — 0.573
CP
AIM 0.54 < 0.001 0.433 — 0.656 Table 4.
SEM regression table
IBPP on the impact of
AIM 0.58 < 0.001 0.478 — 0.691 artificial intelligence
LGP marketing (AIM) on
AIM 0.61 < 0.001 0.511 — 0.713 SME performance
JEEE impacts the financial performance of SMEs in Ghana. The result supports H1 and therefore,
H1 is accepted at 0.001 significant level. H2 proposed in this study establish that AIM has a
positive significant effect on customer performance. The hypothesis is presented as H2. AIM
has a positive significant effect on customer performance in Ghana. Table 4 shows that AIM
has positive and significant effect on customer performance (H2: b = 0.54, p-value < 0.001).
This study therefore, establishes that AIM significantly increases the effect of customer
performance among SMEs in Ghana by 54% (i.e. b = 0.54). Thus, AIM is considered an
important strategy that impacts on the customer performance of SMEs in Ghana (i.e. p-value <
0.001). This outcome supports H2 and therefore H2 is accepted at 0.001 significant level. H3
proposed by this study establishes a positive relationship between AIM and internal business
process performance. So, the hypothesis is expressed as H3. AIM has a positive significant
effect on internal business process in Ghana. It can be seen from Table 4 that AIM has a
positive and significant effect on the internal business process performance (H3: b = 0.58,
p-value < 0.001). This research study therefore establishes that AIM significantly increases the
effect of internal business process performance among SMEs in Ghana by 58% (i.e. b = 0.58).
Hence, AIM is an important strategy that impacts the internal business process performance of
SMEs in Ghana (i.e. p-value < 0.001). This result supports H3 and therefore H3 is accepted at
0.001 significant level. H4 proposed by this study establishes a positive association between
AIM and learning and growth performance. The hypothesis is therefore, expressed as H4. AIM
has a positive significant effect on learning and growth performance in Ghana. It is evident
from Table 4 that AIM has a positive and significant effect on learning and growth
performance (H4: b = 0.61, p-value < 0.001). This research study establishes that AIM
significantly increases the effect of learning and growth performance among SMEs in Ghana
by significant at 61% (i.e. b = 0.61). Therefore, AIM is a critical strategy that impacts the
learning and growth performance of SMEs in Ghana (p-value < 0.001). This outcome supports
H4 and therefore H4 is accepted at 0.001 significant level.

5.4 Structural equational model goodness of fit analysis

Table 5, Shows that the root mean squared error of approximation (RMSEA) of the
structural equation modelling (SEM) statistics of this study was 0.059 which is close to the
required value of 0.05 and therefore, considered good fit (see Figure 2). also, the 90%

Fit statistic Value Description

Population error
RMSEA 0.059 Root mean squared error of approximation
90% CI, lower bound 0.053
Upper bound 0.064
P close 0.005 Probability RMSEA < = 0.05
Information criteria
AIC 20254.71 Akaike’s information criterion
BIC 20657.81 Bayesian information criterion
Baseline comparison
CFI 0.902 Comparative fit index
Table 5. TLI 0.895 Tucker–Lewis index
Goodness of fit for Size of residuals
SEM (using STATA SRMR 0.127 Standardized root mean squared residual
15.10) CD 0.885 Coefficient of determination
 ε8 0.75 ε9 0.3 ε10 0.32 ε11 0.34 ε12 0.37 ε13 0.25 ε14 0.29
Impact of
FP37 FP38 FP39 FP40 FP41 FP42 FP43
0.82
CP44
3.3
ε16 0.32
artificial
2.4 3.6 3.9 3.6 4 4 3.7
0.5 0.84 0.82 0.82 0.79 0.87 0.84 CP45
3.5
ε17 0.38 intelligence
0.79
ε15 0.7
FP CP46 ε 0.29
18
ε7 0.79 3.4
0.84

0.45 CP CP47 ε 0.39

19
0.78 3.8

ε1 0.48 AIM1 0.54 0.7

5.1 CP48 ε 0.51
20
0.72 3.5
0.73
ε 0.54 AIM2
2
5.6 0.68 CP49 ε21 0.47
3.6
0.69
ε 0.52 AIM3 0.69
3
5.2 CP50 ε22 0.52
AIM 3.7
1
ε 0.5 AIM4 0.71
4
5.3 IBPP51 ε 0.45
24
3.4
0.68 0.74
ε5 0.53 AIM5
5.4 IBPP52 ε 0.47
25
3.6
0.73 0.73
ε6 0.47 AIM6
4.8 IBPP53 ε26 0.64
0.58 3.1
0.6

0.79
IBPP54 ε27 0.38
IBPP ε23 0.66 3.8
0.61

0.74
IBPP55 ε28 0.45
3.3
LGP
0.77

IBPP56 ε29 0.4

0.63 0.74 0.79 3.1
ε33 0.58 0.81
0.73 0.7 0.77 0.7 0.77

LGP60 LGP61 LGP62 LGP63 LGP64 LGP65 LGP66 LGP67 IBPP57 ε 0.4
Figure 2.
30
3.3 3.1 3.3 3 3 3.2
0.81
3.2 3.5 0.69 3.5
Structural equation
ε
34
0.46 ε
35
0.51 ε
36
0.41 ε
37
0.51 ε
38
0.66 ε
39 0.46 ε
40
0.34 ε
41
0.37
0.71 IBPP58 ε
31
0.53
model assessment
LGP68 3.9
3.4 result using STATA
ε42 0.35
IBPP59 ε
32
0.49 15.1
3.5

confident interval (CI), lower bound was 0.053 which is equivalent to the required value of
0.05 and as such considered a good fit. Again, the 90% confident interval (CI), upper bound
was 0.064 which should be lesser than 0.1 and as such considered a good fit. The pclose value
was 0.005 which is expected to be less than 0.05 and therefore, considered good fit. Hence,
the population error indices including RMSEA, 90% CI, lower bound, upper bound and
pclose were all considered good fit (Hair et al., 2019). In the same vein, the baseline
comparative analysis indicates that comparative fit index (CFI) and Tucker–Lewis index
(TLI) had values of 0.902 and 0.895, respectively, which were considered good fit, as the
values were close to the value 1. Also, the size of residuals analysis shows that standardized
root mean squared residual (SRMR) had a value of 0.127 which is close to 0.00 while the
coefficient of determination (CD) had values of 0.885 which is also close to the value 1.
Therefore, the size of residuals indices (i.e., SRMR and CD) were considered good fit
(Sarstedt et al., 2019).

6. Conclusion and discussion

This study investigated that impact of AIM on the financial, customer, internal business
process and the learning and growth performances among SMEs in Ghana. The findings of
this study provide a strong support to the RBV theory (Barney et al., 2011), which state that
achievement of a continuous competitive advantage and performance could be generated by
JEEE the distinctive blend of resources and capabilities at the nucleus of the business
organization. Therefore, SMEs should view AIM as a distinctive resource and capability
that can impact on their performance and sustainability.
First, this study’s finding on the positive relationship between AIM and financial
performance is fully supported (Table 6). This finding supports previous studies by
Eriksson et al. (2020) and Mishra and Pani (2020) regarding the positive effect of AIM on the
financial performance. Therefore, SMEs’ incorporation and support for AIM dimensions
used in this study (i.e. IoT, CDMS, VAR and personalization) are important for generating
and improving financial performance. This provides SMEs with the resources and
competence needed to lessens costs and enhance marketing team output through the
automation of data-driven task that personalize the experience of customers resulting in
customer loyalty and repeated purchase.
Second, the result of this study indicates that AIM positively influences customer
performance and this is consistent with previous studies by Enholm et al. (2021) and
Makarius et al. (2020) (Table 6). This finding also confirms that AIM supports SMEs in
developing and planning marketing strategy and activities by providing accurate
segmentation, targeting and positioning inputs. This helps SMEs in identifying profitable
customer segments. Similarly, AIM application also help SMEs gauge the appropriateness
of product design to customer requirement through personalization and resultant customer
satisfaction. This finding also supports the fact that AIM presents to SMEs opportunities to
learn about dynamism in consumer behavior, so as to apply this improved insight to
eliminate any undesirable customer experience. Therefore, AIM comes as a huge gain since
it aids in the identification of customer motivations and behavior to create customer map
across the consumer buying process.
Third, this study’s finding also indicates that AIM positively impacts on the internal
business process performance of SMEs (Table 6). The finding provides support to previous
studies by Verma et al. (2021), Wamba-Taguimdje et al. (2020) and Davenport et al. (2020)
concerning the positive effect of AIM on internal business process performance. This
finding also confirms the fact that AIM allows the restructuring of internal business
processes with the aim of drastically transforming how existing marketing routines are
carried out. Based on this process, AIM also serves as an important catalyst for

Hypothesis Construct structural relationships Path coefficient (b) p-values Decision

H1 Artificial intelligence in marketing ! 0.45 < 0.001 Accept

Financial performance
H2 Artificial intelligence in marketing ! 0.54 < 0.001 Accept
Customer performance
H3 Artificial intelligence in marketing ! 0.60 < 0.001 Accept
Internal business process performance
H4 Artificial intelligence in marketing ! 0.63 < 0.001 Accept
Learning and growth performance

Summary results of hypothesis test

Table 6.
Hypothesis Outcome
SEM Model H1. AIM has a significant positive impact on financial performance Accepted
assessment results H2. AIM has a significant positive impact on customer performance Accepted
and summary results H3. AIM has a significant positive impact on internal business process performance Accepted
of hypothesis test H4. AIM has a significant positive impact on learning and growth performance Accepted
redeveloping and remodeling the present structure of business organizations such as SMEs. Impact of
AIM influences working practices of employees, thereby bringing about transformation in artificial
the internal business process and structures of business organizations. In the same vein, the
application of AIM presents novel competence for SME owners, managers and employees
intelligence
which allows them to integrate their roles with AIM. However, this requires restructuring of
existing marketing task description so as to capture new task.
Fourth, the findings in this study shows that AIM positively impacts on the learning and
growth performance of SMEs (Table 6). This finding therefore, supports previous studies by
Mikalef and Gupta (2021) and Liu et al. (2020) concerning the positive effect of AIM on
learning and growth performance. The finding also confirms the fact that AIM presents
learning opportunities to business organizations and SMEs through the use of insights and
processed datasets by AI to generate knowledge. Through data collection, processing and
distribution of data set, AI has the capability to provide formerly unidentified information
for which SMEs can learn and generate knowledge, thereby allowing them make decisions
based on insight. Therefore, SMEs should device avenues through which they can exploit
AIM capability to obtain superior understanding and knowledge which is expected to
provide competitive advantage. The valuable information provided by AIM can be learned
by SMEs to improve the quality level of their decision-making and also make accurate
predictions about consumer behavior. AIM, therefore, supports SME managers or owners to
prevail over their reasoning constraints through the use of machine learning which analyzes
huge volume of dataset. This empowers SMEs to accelerate their learning on delivering
exceptional customer experience from acquisition to retention which result in their growth
and performance.

6.1 Theoretical implications

This study responds to academic demand for empirical investigations into the impact of
AIM and business performance metrics. Consequently, the authors develop a conceptual
framework for the relationship between AIM and business performance metrics (i.e.
financial, customer, internal business process and learning and growth), grounded in theory,
current applications of AIM and current research studies on AIM. The RBV-oriented
conceptual framework used in this study bridges the gap between AIM effectiveness and
key business performance metrics as well as balances AIM capability and SME
performance. This current study explored how the interaction between AI and IoT, CDMS,
VAR and personalization is pivotal in defining AIM. This study also shows that AIM (i.e.
AI-enabled IoT, CDMS, VAR and personalization) positively influences financial, customer,
internal business processes and learning and growth performance of SMEs. Therefore, this
study provides empirical support to the proposition that determinants of AIM used in this
study including AI-enabled IoT, CDMS, VAR and personalization should be recognized as
an important capability for improving and sustaining SME performance in terms of
financial, customer, internal business process and learning and growth performance.

6.2 Practical implications

This study provides an empirical proof and practical illustration to both SME owners/managers
and marketing practitioners on the positive impact of AIM on the performance of SMEs,
particularly in the context of an emerging economy. The findings of this study indicates that the
application of AIM requires SMEs to also identify key business performance metrics to measure
the effectiveness and impact of AIM. This will direct and guide the implementation of AIM
determinants including AI-enabled IoT, CDMS, VAR and personalization to achieve optimum
performance. SMEs must therefore, develop resources and competence required to reduce costs
JEEE and also optimize marketing team output through the automation of data-driven task that
personalize the experience of customers resulting in customer loyalty and repeated purchase. The
establishment of an organized method to AIM acceptance and implementation and organizational
competence based on innovative technologies contributes positively to financial performance and
growth. AIM implementation provides opportunities for SMEs to learn about changing trends in
consumer behavior, so as to apply this improved insight to avoid any undesirable customer
experience. AIM applications in SMEs, therefore, comes as a huge benefit because it helps in the
identification of customer motivations and behavior to create customer map across the consumer
buying process. AIM strategy implementation makes it imperative for SMEs to redevelop and
remodel their present structures. Consequently, this requires changes in working practices of
managers and employees, thereby bringing about transformation in the internal business process
and structures of SMEs. In the same vein, the application of AIM presents new competence for
SME owners, manages and employee which allows them to integrate their roles with AI.
Therefore, this requires restructuring of existing marketing task description so as to capture new
task. The valuable knowledge and information provided by AIM can be learned by SMEs to
enhance the quality of their decision-making and also make accurate predictions about consumer
behavior. Therefore, AIM supports SME managers or owners to overcome certain analytical
constraints related to customers and markets through the utilization of machine learning which
analyzes huge volume of data set. This resources SMEs to learn faster on delivering unique
customer experience from acquisition to retention which result in their growth and performance.

6.3 Limitation and future research

This study has limitations although the findings and implication are very important. Most
notable is that the study can be enhanced by expanding the sample size to include
respondents in other geographical zones. Also, this study is restricted to Ghana. The current
study can be duplicated in other emerging economies to allow comparisons of results.
Additionally, quantitative research technique was applied in this study, therefore future
studies may consider a qualitative research technique for similar studies. The current study
did not consider AIM determinants such as digital interaction between buyers and sellers
and database automation of marketing. Future research studies should concentrate on how
AIM can analyze customer communications and information such as posts on social media
to develop future communications that may enhance customer engagement. The BSC
performance metrics (i.e. financial, customer, internal business process and learning and
growth perspectives) used to gauge the effectiveness of AIM in this study can be
strengthened by capturing other critical business performance metrics such as enterprise
endurance and sustainability, social, environmental, risk and interests of important
stakeholders aside customers.

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About the authors

Kwabena Abrokwah-Larbi holds PhD in Management Studies from the University of South Africa,
Pretoria and is currently Lecturer of Marketing at the Koforidua Technical University in Koforidua,
Ghana. His current research interest is in micro, small and medium enterprise marketing,
management and sustainability. Kwabena Abrokwah-Larbi is the corresponding author and can be
contacted at: kaabrokwah@gmail.com
Yaw Awuku-Larbi holds a master’s degree in Infectious Disease Epidemiology from the
University of Witwatersrand, Johannesburg and is currently an epidemiologist in the virology
department at Noguchi Memorial Institute for Medical Research, University of Ghana, Accra, Ghana.
His current research interest is in health economics and marketing and global health security.

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