Impact of artificial intelligence on employees working in industry 4.0 led organizations

Abstract

PurposeThis study attempts to develop a practical understanding of the positive and negative employee experiences due to artificial intelligence (AI) adoption and the creation of technostress. It unravels the human resource development-related challenges with the onset of Industry 4.0.Design/methodology/approachSemi-structured interviews were conducted with 32 professionals with average work experience of 7.6 years and working across nine industries, and the transcripts were analyzed using NVivo.FindingsThe findings establish prominent adverse impacts of the adoption of AI, namely, information security, data privacy, drastic changes resulting from digital transformations and job risk and insecurity brewing in the employee psyche. This is followed by a hierarchy of factors comprising the positive impacts, namely, work-related flexibility and autonomy, creativity and innovation and overall enhancement in job performance. Further factors contributing to technostress (among employees): work overload, job insecurity and complexity were identified.Practical implicationsThe emerging knowledge economy and technological interventions are changing the existing job profiles, hence the need for different skillsets and technological competencies. The organizations thus need to deploy strategic manpower development measures involving up-gradation of skills and knowledge management. Inculcating requisite skills requires well-designed training programs using specialized tools and virtual reality (VR). In addition, employees need to be supported in their evolving socio-technical relationships, for managing both positive and negative outcomes.Originality/valueThis research makes the unique contribution of establishing a qualitative hierarchy of prominent factors constituting unintended consequences, positive impacts and technostress creators (among employees) of AI deployment in organizational processes.

A study of artificial intelligence on employee performance and work engagement: the moderating role of change leadership

“…The results of the study Wamba-Taguimdje et al (2020) have highlighted such AI benefits in organizations, and more specifically, its ability to improve performance at both the organizational (financial, marketing and administrative) and process levels. The study conducted by Malik et al (2021) also revealed that AI has a positive impact on work-related flexibility and autonomy, creativity and innovation and overall enhancement in job performance. Therefore: H1.…”

Organizational Structure and Artificial Intelligence. Modeling the Intraorganizational Response to the AI Contingency

“…Another critical aspect of a micro-organizational design is psychological sustainability at the workplace [31,32]. The issue closely related to the introduction of AI in an organization concerns technostress [32].…”

“…Another critical aspect of a micro-organizational design is psychological sustainability at the workplace [31,32]. The issue closely related to the introduction of AI in an organization concerns technostress [32]. Indeed, job risk and insecurity, underperformance, and the potential work overload, tightly connected to digitization, are looming over the psyche of a modern-day employee.…”

“…Although several attempts were made to understand the nature of the interrelationship between AI-related technologies and the structural characteristics of an organization [20][21][22]30,39,40,46], to our knowledge, this study represents the first in its kind addressing the issue systemically across multiple dimensions of the ideal-type of a typical organizational structure. Indeed, the previous studies were mainly concerned with micro job-related issues, both vertically [20][21][22][23]25,26] and horizontally [29,31,32]. The important mesolevel variables-mainly related to the span of control, number of hierarchical levels, centralization, standardization, formalization, and incentives-have been consistently neglected by scholars.…”

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“…The emerging knowledge economy and technological interventions are changing the existing job profiles, hence the need for different skillsets and technological capabilities [ 9 ]. The creativity of members and the organization is essential in acquiring and using these abilities anew.…”