The integration of sustainable technologies and artificial intelligence (AI) into organisational processes is reshaping the strategic foundations of cooperatives. However, empirical evidence on how AI-enabled marketing capabilities can boost organisational performance in the social economy remains fragmented. This study explores the role of sustainable marketing strategies and the perceived benefits of AI in shaping cooperatives’ organisational capabilities and financial performance. An empirical exploratory study was conducted using partial least squares structural equation modelling (PLS-SEM) with bootstrapping in SmartPLS 4. Primary data were collected through a survey of Spanish cooperatives. The analysis provides exploratory findings on how marketing-driven capabilities are structured in cooperatives. These findings reveal the absence of direct performance effects and highlight the contextual role of perceived AI benefits. Marketing strategies exert a significant effect on organisational capabilities. However, the perceived benefits of AI do not significantly alter the relationship between market-oriented learning and performance. The low significance of the negative direct effect of perceived AI benefits on performance suggests ambivalent perceptions of the strategic risk of AI use in cooperatives. Despite its exploratory design, this study can help cooperatives by revealing appropriate strategies to improve or maintain performance.
Lafuente et al. (Sun,) studied this question.