The Role of Managerial Trust in the Adoption of AI-Driven Marketing Strategies : A Study of Sweden and Egypt

Sammanfattning

As artificial intelligence is increasingly developing, especially within marketing practices and organisational decision-making. AI-driven tools can support customer analysis, campaign optimisation, automation, personalisation and data based marketing decisions. However, the adoption of these tools does not depend only on their technical capabilities but also on whether managers trust these systems and perceive them as reliable to integrate them into their marketing strategies. This study explores how managerial trust in AI is experienced in relation to the adoption of AI-driven marketing strategies, with attention to organisations in Sweden and Egypt. By focusing on managerial trust, the study aims to understand AI adoption as both a technological and organisational process. Empirical findings were collected in this study through qualitative semi-structured interviews with eight participants from Sweden and Egypt. All participants had experience with AI-driven marketing tools, marketing-related decision-making or AI-supported data analysis. The collected data were analysed through thematic analysis and interpreted in relation to theories on technology acceptance, organisational adoption, innovation diffusion, managerial trust in AI and cultural context. Conclusively, this thesis found that managerial trust in AI is conditional rather than absolute. Managers generally viewed AI as a useful support tool that can improve efficiency, identify patterns, reduce workload and support marketing decisions. However, trust depended on reliability, transparency, explainability, data quality, previous experience, contextual relevance and the possibility of human review. The findings also showed that AI adoption was gradual, as organisations tested and evaluated AI tools before integrating them more deeply into marketing practices. While managers in both Sweden and Egypt viewed AI as supportive rather than replacing human judgement, the conditions shaping trust differed across the two contexts. The study concludes that managerial trust plays an important role in shaping not only whether AI-driven marketing tools are adopted, but also how they are used and controlled within marketing decision-making.