Perceived Artificial Intelligence as a Strategic Enabler: A Conceptual Framework Linking AI Perception to Sustainable Competitive Advantage

Abstract

This systematic integrative review examined how perceived artificial intelligence functions as a strategic enabler of sustainable competitive advantage through the integration of Resource-Based View, dynamic capabilities, and strategic cognition perspectives. The analysis demonstrates that AI does not independently generate sustainable advantage. Instead, competitive durability emerges from a multi-layered process beginning with managerial perception and strategic cognition, progressing through dynamic capability activation, stabilized by governance mechanisms, and amplified through internal and ecosystem resource orchestration.
By repositioning AI as a cognitively interpreted strategic resource embedded within governance and orchestration structures, this study offers a comprehensive framework capable of explaining performance heterogeneity in AI adoption contexts. In doing so, it advances theoretical integration in AI strategy research and provides a foundation for future empirical validation.