Symbiotic or Substitutive? A Meta-Analysis of the Convergent Effects of AI, AR, VR, and IoT on Promotion Management
Rituparna Basu, Neelarya Bhaduri · Journal of Promotion Management · 2026
The growing convergence of Artificial Intelligence (AI), Augmented Reality (AR), Virtual Reality (VR), and the Internet of Things (IoT) in emerging promotion management practices sets the need for an academic exploration that moves beyond the general disjointed focus on a single technology as a solution. The present study meta-analytically reviews 91 empirical studies with a sample of 34,819 consumers to examine the converging effects of immersive and intelligent technologies on promotion outcomes. Using random-effects models on Fisher-z-transformed correlations, the analysis finds a moderate, consistent positive effect across behavioral, psychological, and interaction outcomes. Contrary to expectations of technological synergy, a formal test of between-category differences showed that combined-technology configurations did not differ significantly from single-technology deployments. The proposed Technology Synergy Matrix is therefore advanced as an interpretive typology that characterizes how immersive and intelligent technologies combine, rather than as a ranking of effect magnitudes. The study contributes a transparent, reproducible synthesis to promotion-management scholarship and offers managers evidence-based guidance on convergent smart technology investments in marketing.