What Do I Do in a World of Artificial Intelligence? Investigating the Impact of Substitutive Decision-Making AI Systems on Employees’ Professional Role Identity

F. Strich, A.-S. Mayer, M. Fiedler

Research output: Contribution to JournalArticleAcademicpeer-review

Abstract

© 2021 by the Association for Information Systems.Artificial intelligence (AI) systems in the workplace increasingly substitute for employees’ tasks, responsibilities, and decision-making. Consequently, employees must relinquish core activities of their work processes without the ability to interact with the AI system (e.g., to influence decision-making processes or adapt or overrule decision-making outcomes). To deepen our understanding of how substitutive decision-making AI systems affect employees’ professional role identity and how employees adapt their identity in response to the system, we conducted an in-depth case study of a company in the area of loan consulting. We qualitatively analyzed more than 60 interviews with employees and managers. Our research contributes to the literature on IS and identity by disclosing mechanisms through which employees strengthen and protect their professional role identity despite being unable to directly interact with the AI system. Further, we highlight the boundary conditions for introducing an AI system and contribute to the body of empirical research on the potential downsides of AI.
Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)304-324
JournalJournal of the Association for Information Systems
Volume22
Issue number2
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 2021
Externally publishedYes

Funding

Marina Fiedler holds the Chair of Management, People and Information at the University of Passau, Germany. Her research focuses on the interface of three central topics of digitization: (1) the role of AI in organizations and IT platforms; (2) governance and management of sustainable behavior; and (3) changes in designing work. Her research on ways to successfully promote sustainable employee behavior has been funded by Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG). Marina’s work has been published in journals, including Games and Economic Behavior, Journal of Business Research, Journal of Economic Behavior and Organization, Organization, Organization Studies and Research Policy.

FundersFunder number
Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft

    Fingerprint

    Dive into the research topics of 'What Do I Do in a World of Artificial Intelligence? Investigating the Impact of Substitutive Decision-Making AI Systems on Employees’ Professional Role Identity'. Together they form a unique fingerprint.

    Cite this