In the rapidly evolving digital landscape, higher educational institutions (HEIs) in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) face growing challenges in aligning artificial intelligence (AI) adoption with sustainable development goals (SDGs). Despite the increasing integration of AI technologies, many universities struggle to leverage them effectively for sustainable digital marketing performance. This study explores how technological and environmental drivers of artificial intelligence (AI), mediated by dynamic capability and moderated by entrepreneurial education, influence sustainable digital marketing outcomes within HEIs of UAE. A questionnaire was designed to collect data from HEIs in UAE. Three hundred and one (301) responses were analyzed by using PLS-SEM. Findings of the study revealed the significant contribution of technology drivers of AI and environmental drivers of AI in the promotion of dynamic capabilities and sustainable digital marketing. In addition, entrepreneurial education can strengthen the relationship between technology drivers of AI and sustainable digital marketing. These findings have key insights for the practitioners while making strategies to achieve SDGs. This study has significant contribution to literature by extending Dynamic Capabilities Theory (DCT). Particularly, the introduction of AI drivers in relation to sustainable digital marketing performance extended the DCT leading to important practical implications.
Aljumah et al. (2026) studied this question.