Senior Researcher Ilona Pezenka explains which skills marketers will actually need in the future in the new Springer anthology on the digital economy: The new rules of the game for companies.
Ilona Pezenka is senior researcher in the Marketing & Sales Management study programs at FHWien der WKW. In research and teaching, the topic of artificial intelligence and the associated effects on the professional fields of management and communication at FHWien der WKW is a major focus – as it is for Pezenka. Currently, as head of the MA23 City of Vienna-funded competence team “Master Propaedeutics – Bridging courses in research skills & methods”, she is also working on the use of AI tutors in teaching.
In the recently published anthology “Digital Economy: Die neuen Spielregeln für Unternehmen. Interdisziplinäre Einblicke und Praxisstrategien für Marketing, Sales und Management“, published by Springer-Verlag, she shed light on the future of marketing skills in the age of artificial intelligence with her co-author Wilhelm Loibl.
Emotional intelligence and adaptability as a key competences
Based on the conceptual framework model by Huang & Rust (2018), which identifies four levels of intelligence in connection with AI (mechanical, analytical, intuitive and empathic intelligence), Loibl & Pezenka (2025) distil four key competencies from 1,674 job advertisements in digital marketing:
- Data literacy
- AI and machine learning skills
- Emotional intelligence and human-centered marketing
- Adaptability
The authors come to the conclusion that AI will take over automated routine tasks in marketing & sales in the future. Of course, this requires basic data/IT knowledge and AI literacy on the one hand, but on the other, more and more creativity, emotional intelligence and a willingness to continuously learn, including the ability to adapt to new circumstances, will be required in the future.
Sources:
Huang, M. H., & Rust, R. T. (2018). Artificial intelligence in service. Journal of Service Research, 21(2), 155–172. https://doi.org/10.1177/1094670517752459
Loibl, W., Pezenka, I. (2025). Die Zukunft der Marketingkompetenzen im Zeitalter der künstlichen Intelligenz. In: Haas-Kotzegger, U. (ed.), Digital Economy: Die neuen Spielregeln für Unternehmen. Wiesbaden: Springer Gabler. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-658-47828-5_19