IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/jbrese/v191y2025ics0148296325000748.html

Social, economic, and environmental implications of drones in marketing: A framework of safeguards for sustainable technology implementation

Author

Listed:
  • Beninger, Stefanie
  • Robson, Karen

Abstract

Emerging technologies in marketing can bring sustainability benefits but can also cause harms to the environment, the economy, and society. To better realize global sustainability goals, this empirically grounded study contributes a framework of safeguards for technologies in marketing. Focusing on the increasingly prevalent technology of commercial aerial drones, the authors employed inductive research involving a fully qualitative survey of 240 commercial drone experts, marketing professionals, and the general public to explore the sustainability implications of commercial drones. The findings reveal that commercial drones are linked to a range of benefits and harms, and that three groups of safeguards – technical safeguards, policy safeguards, and inclusive public safeguards – could create value by reducing the possible harms and bolstering the benefits of commercial drones in marketing.

Suggested Citation

  • Beninger, Stefanie & Robson, Karen, 2025. "Social, economic, and environmental implications of drones in marketing: A framework of safeguards for sustainable technology implementation," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 191(C).
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:jbrese:v:191:y:2025:i:c:s0148296325000748
    DOI: 10.1016/j.jbusres.2025.115251
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0148296325000748
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1016/j.jbusres.2025.115251?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to

    for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Kirk Plangger & Dhruv Grewal & Ko Ruyter & Catherine Tucker, 2022. "The future of digital technologies in marketing: A conceptual framework and an overview," Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science, Springer, vol. 50(6), pages 1125-1134, November.
    2. Al-Emran, Mostafa & Griffy-Brown, Charla, 2023. "The role of technology adoption in sustainable development: Overview, opportunities, challenges, and future research agendas," Technology in Society, Elsevier, vol. 73(C).
    3. Raj, Alok & Mukherjee, Abheek Anjan & de Sousa Jabbour, Ana Beatriz Lopes & Srivastava, Samir K., 2022. "Supply chain management during and post-COVID-19 pandemic: Mitigation strategies and practical lessons learned," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 142(C), pages 1125-1139.
    4. Leone, Daniele & Schiavone, Francesco & Appio, Francesco Paolo & Chiao, Benjamin, 2021. "How does artificial intelligence enable and enhance value co-creation in industrial markets? An exploratory case study in the healthcare ecosystem," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 129(C), pages 849-859.
    5. Kull, Alexander J. & Mena, Jeannette A. & Korschun, Daniel, 2016. "A resource-based view of stakeholder marketing," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 69(12), pages 5553-5560.
    6. Dhruv Grewal & Stephanie M. Noble & Anne L. Roggeveen & Jens Nordfalt, 2020. "The future of in-store technology," Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science, Springer, vol. 48(1), pages 96-113, January.
    7. Dhruv Grewal & John Hulland & Praveen K. Kopalle & Elena Karahanna, 2020. "The future of technology and marketing: a multidisciplinary perspective," Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science, Springer, vol. 48(1), pages 1-8, January.
    8. Hoyer, Wayne D. & Kroschke, Mirja & Schmitt, Bernd & Kraume, Karsten & Shankar, Venkatesh, 2020. "Transforming the Customer Experience Through New Technologies," Journal of Interactive Marketing, Elsevier, vol. 51(C), pages 57-71.
    9. Joshuah K. Stolaroff & Constantine Samaras & Emma R. O’Neill & Alia Lubers & Alexandra S. Mitchell & Daniel Ceperley, 2018. "Energy use and life cycle greenhouse gas emissions of drones for commercial package delivery," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 9(1), pages 1-13, December.
    10. Sham, Rohana & Chong, Han Xi & Cheng-Xi Aw, Eugene & Bibi Tkm Thangal, Thahira & Abdamia, Noranita binti, 2023. "Switching up the delivery game: Understanding switching intention to retail drone delivery services," Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services, Elsevier, vol. 75(C).
    11. Ramirez, Edward, 2013. "Consumer-defined sustainably-oriented firms and factors influencing adoption," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 66(11), pages 2202-2209.
    12. Stefanie Beninger & Karen Robson, 2020. "The disruptive potential of drones," Marketing Letters, Springer, vol. 31(4), pages 315-319, December.
    13. Alok Raj & Abheek Anjan Mukherjee & Ana Beatriz Lopes de Sousa Jabbour & Samir K. Srivastava, 2022. "Supply chain management during and post-COVID-19 pandemic: Mitigation strategies and practical lessons learned," Post-Print hal-04275089, HAL.
    14. Manjit S. Yadav & Paul A. Pavlou, 2020. "Technology-enabled interactions in digital environments:a conceptual foundation for current and future research," Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science, Springer, vol. 48(1), pages 132-136, January.
    15. Joshuah K. Stolaroff & Constantine Samaras & Emma R. O’Neill & Alia Lubers & Alexandra S. Mitchell & Daniel Ceperley, 2018. "Author Correction: Energy use and life cycle greenhouse gas emissions of drones for commercial package delivery," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 9(1), pages 1-1, December.
    16. repec:eme:mrn000:01409170610683833 is not listed on IDEAS
    17. Sara Quach & Park Thaichon & Kelly D. Martin & Scott Weaven & Robert W. Palmatier, 2022. "Digital technologies: tensions in privacy and data," Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science, Springer, vol. 50(6), pages 1299-1323, November.
    18. Karin Tollin & Lars Bech Christensen, 2019. "Sustainability Marketing Commitment: Empirical Insights About Its Drivers at the Corporate and Functional Level of Marketing," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 156(4), pages 1165-1185, June.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. V. Kumar & Philip Kotler & Ajay Kumar, 2026. "Transformative marketing strategies in the era of new-age technologies: Principles, plan, purpose, and practice," Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science, Springer, vol. 54(1), pages 1-27, February.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Ruth N. Bolton & Anders Gustafsson & Crina O. Tarasi & Lars Witell, 2022. "Designing satisfying service encounters: website versus store touchpoints," Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science, Springer, vol. 50(1), pages 85-107, January.
    2. Merfeld, Katrin & Klein, Jan F. & de Regt, Anouk & Baltin (née Riegger), Anne-Sophie & Henkel, Sven, 2025. "In-store technology personalization: A typology and research agenda based on type of automation and data collection," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 191(C).
    3. Shankar, Venkatesh & Kalyanam, Kirthi & Setia, Pankaj & Golmohammadi, Alireza & Tirunillai, Seshadri & Douglass, Tom & Hennessey, John & Bull, J.S. & Waddoups, Rand, 2021. "How Technology is Changing Retail," Journal of Retailing, Elsevier, vol. 97(1), pages 13-27.
    4. Erik Hermann & Gizem Yalcin Williams & Stefano Puntoni, 2024. "Deploying artificial intelligence in services to AID vulnerable consumers," Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science, Springer, vol. 52(5), pages 1431-1451, October.
    5. Thorsten Hennig-Thurau & Dorothea N. Aliman & Alina M. Herting & Gerrit P. Cziehso & Marc Linder & Raoul V. Kübler, 2023. "Social interactions in the metaverse: Framework, initial evidence, and research roadmap," Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science, Springer, vol. 51(4), pages 889-913, July.
    6. Erik Hermann, 2022. "Leveraging Artificial Intelligence in Marketing for Social Good—An Ethical Perspective," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 179(1), pages 43-61, August.
    7. Yuping Liu-Thompkins & Shintaro Okazaki & Hairong Li, 2022. "Artificial empathy in marketing interactions: Bridging the human-AI gap in affective and social customer experience," Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science, Springer, vol. 50(6), pages 1198-1218, November.
    8. Teck Ming Tan & Saila Saraniemi, 2023. "Trust in blockchain-enabled exchanges: Future directions in blockchain marketing," Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science, Springer, vol. 51(4), pages 914-939, July.
    9. Ualison Rébula De Oliveira & Gabriela Costa Dias & Vicente Aprigliano Fernandes, 2024. "Evaluation of a conceptual model of supply chain risk management to import/export process of an automotive industry: an action research approach," Operations Management Research, Springer, vol. 17(1), pages 201-219, March.
    10. Jeong, Ho Young & Song, Byung Duk, 2025. "Optimization of urban logistics with multi-modal systems: A comprehensive study of the airship-vehicle routing problem," Transportation Research Part E: Logistics and Transportation Review, Elsevier, vol. 204(C).
    11. Zhang, Xuehua & Zhong, Yun & Liu, Zhenyu & Zhuo, Ye, 2025. "Does dialect similarity affect customer stability: Evidence from corporate trust and friction," International Review of Financial Analysis, Elsevier, vol. 105(C).
    12. Pappas, Alec & Fumagalli, Elena & Rouziou, Maria & Bolander, Willy, 2023. "More than Machines: The Role of the Future Retail Salesperson in Enhancing the Customer Experience," Journal of Retailing, Elsevier, vol. 99(4), pages 518-531.
    13. Schmidt, Sebastian & Saraceni, Adriana, 2024. "Consumer acceptance of drone-based technology for last mile delivery," Research in Transportation Economics, Elsevier, vol. 103(C).
    14. Sina Abbasi & Maryam Moosivand & Ilias Vlachos & Mohammad Talooni, 2023. "Designing the Location–Routing Problem for a Cold Supply Chain Considering the COVID-19 Disaster," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(21), pages 1-24, October.
    15. Huang, Xinpeng & Wen, Huwei, 2025. "The constraining dynamics of political instability on renewable energy development: International evidence," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 246(C).
    16. Savastano Marco & Anagnoste Sorin, 2020. "Pioneering Strategies in Retail Settings: An Empirical Study of Successful Practices," Management & Marketing, Sciendo, vol. 15(4), pages 643-663, December.
    17. Hayat, Khizar & Zhang, Qingyu & Sousa, Maria Jose & Husnain, Mudassir & Shahzad, Khuram, 2025. "Blockchain-powered drone deliveries: Embedded governance mechanisms for reducing uncertainty and enhancing consumer behavioral intentions," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 221(C).
    18. Amine Masmoudi, M. & Mancini, Simona & Baldacci, Roberto & Kuo, Yong-Hong, 2022. "Vehicle routing problems with drones equipped with multi-package payload compartments," Transportation Research Part E: Logistics and Transportation Review, Elsevier, vol. 164(C).
    19. Orji, Ifeyinwa Juliet & U-Dominic, Chukwuebuka Martinjoe, 2024. "Adaptable solutions for retail supply chain resilience in the post-COVID-19 era," Socio-Economic Planning Sciences, Elsevier, vol. 96(C).
    20. Liu, Yapan & Jin, Ming, 2023. "Does supply chain network centrality affect firm cost stickiness?," Finance Research Letters, Elsevier, vol. 58(PB).

    More about this item

    Keywords

    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:eee:jbrese:v:191:y:2025:i:c:s0148296325000748. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Catherine Liu (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.elsevier.com/locate/jbusres .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.