Theme Prevalence and Co-Occurrence in Managerial Perceptions of AI Integration in Physical Retail: A Descriptive Qualitative Content Analysis

Nina Kolar, MSc, is a Teaching Assistant and a Doctoral Candidate at the Faculty of Economics and Business, University of Maribor, Slovenia. Her research focus lies at the intersection of marketing, consumer behavior, and advanced technologies, with a specific emphasis on the integration of artificial intelligence (AI) in physical retail environments. She is an active member of the Department of Marketing and has published work exploring consumer readiness for AI adoption, specifically examining the interplay of prior experience, perceived risks, and gender differences. Her research interests include structural modeling of AI use readiness and evaluating the socio-technical challenges of "phygital" retail ecosystems.

Maribor, Slovenia. E-mail: nina.kolar5@um.si

Aleksandra Pisnik, PhD, is a full professor of marketing at the University of Maribor, Faculty of Economics and Business, and a researcher at the Institute for Marketing. With over 30 years of experience in marketing, she has developed and taught numerous marketing courses and has led and participated in a wide range of research projects focusing on service quality, perceived price, and perceived product and service value. She has published more than 30 papers in internationally recognized scientific journals.

Maribor, Slovenia. E-mail: aleksandra.pisnik@um.si