Special Session 1

Responsible Artificial Intelligence, Digital Marketing, and Consumer Ethics

Digital technologies and artificial intelligence are reshaping contemporary business, marketing, and consumer environments. Social media platforms, e-commerce systems, algorithmic recommendations, AI-generated content, virtual influencers, personalized advertising, digital analytics, and automated decision-making tools have created new opportunities for firms to communicate with consumers, design value propositions, and manage business processes more effectively. At the same time, these developments raise important ethical questions regarding transparency, privacy, manipulation, fairness, accountability, consumer autonomy, authenticity, and trust.

This Special Session aims to bring together researchers working at the intersection of artificial intelligence, digital transformation, and ethics. Rather than focusing solely on technical applications of AI, the session adopts a broader perspective by examining how digital and AI-driven practices influence consumers, organizations, markets, and society. The session welcomes conceptual, empirical, and interdisciplinary studies addressing responsible AI, digital marketing ethics, consumer protection, platform responsibility, algorithmic fairness, ethical data use, online trust, digital persuasion, influencer communication, dark patterns, greenwashing, and the social consequences of emerging technologies.

The session is particularly interested in studies that explore how businesses can benefit from AI and digital tools while maintaining ethical standards and protecting consumer rights. Contributions may focus on marketing, management, information systems, communication, consumer behavior, corporate social responsibility, and related fields. By combining the themes of artificial intelligence, digitalization, and ethics, this session seeks to encourage critical and constructive discussion on responsible innovation and sustainable business practices in the digital age.

The proposed session is closely aligned with the scope of ICBIM 2026, as it addresses emerging issues in business and information management from both managerial and societal perspectives. It is expected to attract scholars interested in the opportunities and challenges created by AI-based and digital business practices, as well as those concerned with the ethical implications of technological transformation.

Session Organizer:

Assoc. Prof. Dr. Emre YILDIRIM, Sakarya University, Türkiye

The topics of interest include, but are not limited to:

• Responsible artificial intelligence in digital marketing
• AI-driven consumer engagement and ethical challenges
• Transparency and disclosure in AI-generated marketing content
• Virtual influencers, consumer trust, and authenticity
• Algorithmic personalization, privacy, and consumer autonomy
• Dark patterns, manipulation, and digital consumer protection
• Ethical issues in social media marketing and influencer communication
• Fake reviews, e-WOM manipulation, and platform responsibility
• Ethical pricing practices in digital marketplaces
• Digital nudging: ethical boundaries between persuasion and manipulation
• Greenwashing and sustainability claims in digital marketing
• Consumer perceptions of AI-supported advertising and branding
• Corporate responsibility and ethical innovation in digital markets
• Human–AI interaction in marketing and business communication

Submission Method:

Submit your Full Paper (no less than 4 pages with two colums) or your paper abstract-without publication (200-400 words) via Online Submission System, then choose Special Session 1 (Responsible Artificial Intelligence, Digital Marketing, and Consumer Ethics)
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Introduction of Session Organizer

Assoc. Prof. Dr. Emre YILDIRIM
Sakarya University, Türkiye

Assoc. Prof. Dr. Emre YILDIRIM is a faculty member at Sakarya University, Türkiye, specializing in marketing. His research focuses on digital marketing, marketing ethics, consumer behavior, social media marketing, e-commerce, artificial intelligence in marketing, and responsible business practices. He received his PhD from Sakarya University, Institute of Social Sciences, with a dissertation on web-based personalization, perceived risk, trust, product value, and purchase intention. His academic work has been published in reputable international journals and books, covering topics such as customized product value, excessive pricing, marketing ethics, online consumer trust, social media marketing, anti-consumption, green products, and consumer protection in digital environments. His recent article, “Disclosure Matters: Perceived Manipulation, Perceived Ethics, and Purchase Intention Toward AI Influencers in Social Media Marketing” published in the Journal of Theoretical and Applied Electronic Commerce Research, directly addresses the ethical and consumer-related implications of AI influencers. He has also authored and edited books and book chapters on ethical marketing, digital ethics in marketing, data-driven marketing, and business ethics. In addition to his research activities, he has supervised graduate theses on digital marketing, consumer complaints, misleading packaging, ethical perceptions, online fake reviews, and price fairness. He was a visiting researcher at the Institute of Innovation Marketing at Hamburg University of Technology. His interdisciplinary expertise connects marketing, digital transformation, consumer ethics, and emerging technologies.