Artificial Intelligence, Marketing, and the History of Technology: Kranzberg’s Laws as a Conceptual Lens
Abstract
Killer applications, or killer apps, are technology applications that profoundly change the way any society thinks, works, and functions. This paper explores Artificial Intelligence (AI) as a killer app, with specific application to marketing. Specifically, this paper employs the lens of technology history to explore the relationship between marketing and AI. Using Kranzberg’s six laws of technology, this paper sheds light on all manner of innovations, how technologies have shaped and impacted society, and how marketers can respond to this. This inquiry offers two main contributions: First, it suggests a number of implications for marketing practice and scholars, derived from each of Kranzberg’s laws. These suggestions are intended to guide marketing practice when implementing or using AI. In addition, this article offers a number of research directions that might be fruitful and important areas for investigation in future scholarly work regarding technology’s impact among marketing scholars.
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Kranzberg's historical laws seem to still stand true.
“For those of who have studied the role of technology in education and society, the historical laws of Kranzberg seem to still stand true (Pitt et al., 2021).”
From The Future of Artificial Intelligence in Special Education Technology (2023) · cites this paper as Pitt et al., 2021
Cites
Artificial intelligence in service
Huang, M.-H., & Rust, R. T. (2018) · Journal of Service Research · doi:10.1177/1094670517752459 · Cited by 3,978 · see citing works
A strategic framework for artificial intelligence in marketing
Huang, M.-H., & Rust, R. T. (2021) · Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science · doi:10.1007/s11747-020-00749-9 · Cited by 2,059 · cited 1× · see citing works
“In complex situations, this could take weeks and months, if not years, for a human to discover (Huang & Rust, 2021).”
BackgroundConsumers and artificial intelligence: An experiential perspective
Puntoni, S., Reczek, R. W., Giesler, M., & Botti, S. (2021) · Journal of Marketing · doi:10.1177/0022242920953847 · Cited by 1,193 · cited 1× · see citing works
“First, future scholarly work might investigate the extent to which the privacy and data security questions raised by AI impact marketing exchanges between customers and organizations (Puntoni et al., 2021).”
BackgroundUniting the Tribes: Using Text for Marketing Insight
Berger, J., Humphreys, A., Ludwig, S., Moe, W. W., Netzer, O., & Schweidel, D. A. (2020) · Journal of Marketing · doi:10.1177/0022242919873106 · Cited by 742 · see citing works
Paschen, J., Wilson, M., & Ferreira, J. J. (2020) · Business Horizons · doi:10.1016/j.bushor.2020.01.003 · Cited by 410 · see citing works
Self-citationLearning in One-to-One Laptop Environments: A Meta-Analysis and Research Synthesis
Zheng, B., Warschauer, M., Lin, C.-H., & Chang, C. (2016) · Review of Educational Research · doi:10.3102/0034654316628645 · Cited by 312 · see citing works
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The Future of Artificial Intelligence in Special Education Technology
Marino, M. T., Vasquez, E., Dieker, L., Basham, J., & Blackorby, J. (2023) · Journal of Special Education Technology · doi:10.1177/01626434231165977 · Cited by 142 · see citing works
- Authors
- Pitt, C., Paschen, J., Kietzmann, J., Pitt, L. F., & Pala, E.
- Affiliations
- KTH Royal Institute of Technology (SE)
- Kwantlen Polytechnic University (CA)
- University of Victoria (CA)
- Simon Fraser University (CA)
- Auckland University of Technology (NZ)
- Corresponding author
- Kietzmann, Jan
- Venue
- Australasian Marketing Journal
- Publisher
- SAGE Publications
- Published
- 2021-09-22
- Volume
- 31
- Issue
- 1
- Pages
- 81-89
- ISSN
- 1441-3582 (ISSN-L)
- 1839-3349
- OpenAlex
- W3200383882
- Cited by
- 30
- References
- 6
- Citations by year
- 2026: 3 · 2025: 8 · 2024: 9 · 2023: 8 · 2022: 2
- FWCI
- 1.68
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- closed
- Locations
- Australasian Marketing Journal (AMJ) (publishedVersion)
- Topics
- Physical Sciences › Computer Science › Artificial Intelligence › AI in Service Interactions
- Physical Sciences › Computer Science › Artificial Intelligence › Artificial Intelligence Applications
- Social Sciences › Business, Management and Accounting › Management of Technology and Innovation › Digital Innovation in Industries
- Keywords
- artificial intelligence, marketing, killer apps, history of technology, technology adoption, technology and society
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