Artificial Intelligence, Social Capital, and Sustainable Employment in Peripheral SMEs: A Biocultural Reading from Eastern Macedonia and Thrace, Greece

The accelerating diffusion of artificial intelligence (AI) in Europe raises pressing distributional questions about employment, social cohesion, and sustainable development in disadvantaged regions. Research has concentrated on advanced urban economies, leaving the implications of AI for peripheral small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) operating under weak human capital, thin digital infrastructure, and constrained social capital — underexplored. We examine the interplay between AI adoption, social capital formation, workforce dynamics, and sustainable development in Eastern Macedonia and Thrace (EMT), one of the EU's least developed regions. Drawing on Bitsani's Biocultural City framework [11], which treats human, social, and cultural capital as interdependent dimensions of regional sustainability, we thematically analysed twelve semi-structured interviews with SME owners and managers conducted in early 2025 using Atlas.ti, yielding 19 codes grouped into six categories. Knowledge deficits and financial constraints emerge as primary barriers, while external technology partnerships, targeted education, and economic incentives operate as enablers, all mediated by social and human capital availability. AI adoption in peripheral economies is not a purely technological or financial challenge but a social and human capital challenge, embedded in a biocultural environment shaped by brain drain, institutional thinness, and weak civic intermediation. Without parallel investment in digital literacy, organizational culture, and inter-firm networks, AI will reproduce rather than reduce employment inequalities. The study draws policy implications for EU Cohesion programming and Sustainable Development Goals 4, 8, 9, 10, and 17.