Artificial Intelligence and the Cognition–Attitude–Behaviour (CAB) Pathway: Examining Digital Brand Engagement among Indian Millennials

Abstract

The recent rapid implementation of Artificial Intelligence (AI) technology has transformed the digital marketing process since it has fundamentally redefined the manner in which brands communicate with customers over the Internet. The Indian millennials are believed to be among the most digital-age groups whose engagement behaviors experienced dramatic change due to the AI-based personalization, recommendation engine, chatbots, sentiment analysis, and predictive analytics. Though a lot has been achieved in the field of AI and marketing and consumer psychology has been researched, there has been less integrative studies on the digital brand engagement, based on the theoretical model of the Cognition Attitude Behaviour (CAB) pathway. This review paper is a synthesis of the available literature on the impact of AI-enabled digital environments on consumer cognition (awareness, perceived value, trust, and information processing), attitudes (brand perception, emotional attachment, and satisfaction), and eventually the behavioural outcomes (purchase intention, loyalty, advocacy, and electronic word-of-mouth) among the Indian millennials. The paper finds significant mediators and moderators, including the perceived personalization, transparency of algorithms, privacy issues, and cultural orientation, that drive the CAB trajectory in brand interactions mediated by AI, by conducting a systematic analysis of current empirical and conceptual research. The review also suggests context-specific aspects of Indian digital ecosystem such as fast smartphone adoption, addiction to social media, growth of vernacular content, and the reliance on technology-based services. A proposed conceptual framework is formulated based on the synthesis to incorporate AI capabilities into the CAB model and clarify the results of digital brand engagement better. The paper ends with theoretical implications of the study to the research in consumer behavior and practical implications to marketers aiming at designing AI-based engagement approaches that can be customized to millennial consumers in the emerging markets. The paper is relevant to the cross of AI, consumer psychology, and digital branding as it provides a systematic insight on how AI technologies influence the cognition-attitude-behaviour channel in the modern digital markets.