Exploring cultural adaptability in AI-enabled marketing communications: the moderating role of technology readiness on consumer behavioral dynamics

This study investigates how cultural adaptability and technology readiness shape consumer responses to AI-enabled marketing communications in Vietnam. Drawing on survey data from 456 consumers and combining PLS-SEM with fsQCA, the findings show that cultural adaptability is the strongest driver and a quasi-necessary condition for favorable behavioral responses. Trust mediates the effects of AI capabilities, whereas technology readiness functions more as a configurational enabling condition than as a uniform linear moderator. The study advances marketing communication theory by positioning cultural adaptability as central to AI marketing effectiveness and offers guidance for firms operating in culturally distinctive emerging markets.