A Comparative Study of AI-Generated and Human-Created Content in Enhancing Digital Marketing Effectiveness in Higher Education Institutions

Abstract

Higher education institutions are increasingly using generative artificial intelligence to create digital marketing content for academic programs, admissions, accessible services, and student communication. However, researchers lack sufficient empirical evidence that would allow them to evaluate whether AI-generated promotional materials achieve audience engagement, trust perception, conversion intention, and accessible communication effectiveness at the same level as human-produced materials. The study used a randomized controlled experimental design, which included 120 respondents who were between 17 and 25 years old and included prospective undergraduate students, recent applicants, and persons who knew about accessibility-related support in higher education. The participants were randomly split into 2 groups: Group A: AI-generated social media captions and email promotional snippets; Group B: matched human-generated content. The researchers used a standardized 5-point Likert scale questionnaire to collect data. This study employed Cronbach's alpha to assess reliability, and they used independent-samples t-tests to examine group differences. Moreover, regression analysis was used to study how content type affected outcome variables while controlling for gender and education level, and previous AI tool experience. The findings showed that while conversion intention did not significantly differ, engagement, trust perception, and accessibility communication perception did. The report recommends a hybrid strategy for digital marketing in higher education that combines AI and human content.