Artificial Intelligence in Marketing Decision Support: Adoption Dynamics, Managerial Trust, and Competitive Implications in Nigerian Firms

This study investigates artificial intelligence (AI) adoption dynamics in marketing decision support, managerial trust in AI recommendations, and the competitive implications of AI-enabled marketing capability in Nigerian firms, developing an original theoretical framework for AI adoption in emerging market marketing management. AI-powered marketing tools including predictive analytics, programmatic advertising systems, sentiment analysis platforms, and AI-driven customer relationship management are transforming marketing decision-making globally. However, the adoption trajectories, trust formation processes, and competitive effects of AI marketing tools in the specific institutional and managerial contexts of Nigerian firms are almost entirely unexplored. Drawing on technology acceptance theory, managerial cognition literature, and the competitive dynamics framework, the study constructs an original model proposing that institutional readiness, managerial AI literacy, and data governance quality collectively determine AI adoption quality, which in turn mediates AI's effect on marketing decision quality and competitive outcomes. A mixed-method sequential design employs 40 in-depth interviews with Nigerian CMOs and marketing technology directors across South West and South East Nigeria in the exploratory phase, followed by a quantitative survey of 280 firms for model testing using PLS-SEM. The study contributes foundational theoretical and empirical evidence on AI adoption in African marketing management contexts and provides guidance for Nigerian firms, AI solution providers, and marketing education institutions on accelerating ethically grounded AI marketing capability development. Keywords: artificial intelligence, marketing decision support, AI adoption, competitive advantage, Nigeria