Digital Marketing and Gen Z Consumer Values: A Systematic Review of Societal and Cultural Impacts

Vollständiger Abstract

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The great transformation brought on by a 'Third Wave' of digital marketing has changed marketing from a separate business process into an underlying sociocultural structure that employs algorithmic personalization and generative artificial intelligence. A systematic review of the academic literature published from 2018 to 2026 is conducted in this paper, which demonstrates how much of an impact the new range of digital tools has had on Generation Z (born 1997-2012). As 'Digital Natives,' these consumers are heavily reliant on peer networks and electronic Word of-Mouth (eWOM) because of their experience with increasingly blurred lines between the physical and digital worlds. Despite the current academic focus on how AI-based personalization and influencer dynamics have shifted generational value priorities, a large 'knowledge gap' exists regarding all of these factors. By employing the Content Marketing Theory (Value Exchange) and combining that with Behavioral Economics, the author examines how digital marketing uses cognitive heuristics as manipulative techniques to disrupt collective behavior and decision making. The paper show that while digital marketing achieves some successes by providing a platform for equitable information distribution and enabling relating-based discovery, it ultimately creates a major 'ethical-consumption gap. The paper concluded that digital marketing has transformed into a key force shaping powerful social and marketing culture and fosters strategic shift from just selling stuff to creating meaning and ultimately dismantling the traditional vertical product funnel, resulting to a horizontal cultural distribution system. In addition, it constitutes a very cost-efficient and successful option for selling products or services online. It is recommended that organizations and brands should ditch those fake influencer deals and focus on digital marketing contents that promotes acceptable social and cultural values.