Shahryar Sorooshian, Syed Radzi Rahamaddulla, Mohd Hanafiah Ahmad
Purpose On both digital capability and sustainability, advertising 4.0 service providers are pivotal for brands that compete. However, choosing the right partner requires a structured, data-driven approach. The purpose of this article is to propose a novel approach to assist sustainable fashion businesses in selecting the best advertising 4.0 services suppliers. Design/methodology/approach The study proposed a multi-step approach that included artificial intelligence (AI) -generated insights as well as expert validation. Generative AI developed the initial decision criteria, which served as a comprehensive and advanced starting point. These criteria were refined through expert focus groups to ensure their comprehensiveness and applicability. A multi-criteria decision-making technique, ordinal priority approach (OPA), utilized to rank the existing service providers. To validate the proposed approach and identify the best advertising 4.0 provider, we went through every step of the model and successfully ranked alternative advertising service suppliers in a fashion industry case study. Findings A user-friendly advertising 4.0 provider selection model was developed for the fashion industry with a sustainability competitive advantage, including Twenty-two comprehensive criteria for market knowledge, sustainability practices, and technical competence. Among the alternative service suppliers obtainable by the case company, this study revealed alternative 2 as the best-match advertising 4.0 partner. As a result of this case study applicability validation, the proposed framework is potentially beneficial for all industries, mainly the fashion sector, because it enables them to make informed decisions that are consistent with their strategic goals. Originality/value This article is among the pioneers to integrate artificial intelligence for criteria generation with expert validation and OPA optimization, producing a replicable generative AI-assisted MCDM framework. It promotes the concept of advertising 4.0 and contributes to the literature on service supplier selection, particularly in the sustainable fashion sector.