The AI paradox in marketing: Fascination, resistance, and reinvention

Grounded in the Technology Acceptance Model (TAM), this research explores how marketing professionals perceive AI adoption, examining the paradoxical tensions between technological fascination and professional resistance that challenge traditional TAM assumptions. This study draws on an exploratory qualitative approach involving 24 international marketing professionals (with 3–30 years of experience) from Africa, Europe, the United States, and the Gulf region. Data was collected through semi-structured interviews, using purposive sampling, and continued until theoretical saturation was achieved. Data analysis is based on a thematic content analysis method. Our analysis reveals three paradoxical perceptions (favorable, unfavorable, ambivalent) and identifies a novel five-category benefit taxonomy (technological, organizational, psychological, economic, communicational) alongside six barrier categories, challenging the linear adoption models prevalent in existing literature. The results show that professionals perceive AI primarily as a complementary tool that improves their individual performance while fundamentally transforming their profession. Theoretically, this study extends TAM by incorporating professional resistance and paradoxical adoption patterns, highlighting the limitations of linear acceptance models when applied to AI adoption within creative professional contexts. The study identifies the marketing experts’ perspectives on the future of their profession, the areas with high potential for AI impact, as well as the skills needed to remain relevant in the face of increasing integration of this technology. Practically, our findings provide a framework for managing AI adoption resistance in emerging markets and guidelines for organizations navigating the AI transformation paradox. Managerial implications are formulated to guide marketing professionals in the investment and use of AI, integrating it consistently into their daily practice.