Wenting Wang , Rick D. Hackett , Norm Archer , Zhengchuan Xu , Yufei Yuan
{"title":"Will AI-enabled conversational agents acting as digital employees enhance employee job identity?","authors":"Wenting Wang , Rick D. Hackett , Norm Archer , Zhengchuan Xu , Yufei Yuan","doi":"10.1016/j.im.2025.104099","DOIUrl":null,"url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Artificial Intelligence (AI)-enabled conversational agents (CAs) increasingly transform online customer service by acting as frontline workers. Understanding employees' attitudes toward these digital colleagues is crucial, as CAs blur the boundaries between human and machine roles. However, existing research often views CAs merely as tools rather than digital employees, neglecting their impact on employees' psychological drivers, such as job identity. This study introduces the perception of CAs as digital employees and develops a Job Identity Enhancement model to examine how human employees' job identity is influenced by their experience working with intelligent CAs. Empirical validation through a survey of frontline service workers reveals that the employees' perceptions of CA autonomy and learning capabilities enhance their job variety and job control, ultimately boosting their job identity and organizational commitment.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":56291,"journal":{"name":"Information & Management","volume":"62 2","pages":"Article 104099"},"PeriodicalIF":8.2000,"publicationDate":"2025-01-03","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":"0","resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":null,"PeriodicalName":"Information & Management","FirstCategoryId":"91","ListUrlMain":"https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0378720625000023","RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"管理学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":null,"EPubDate":"","PubModel":"","JCR":"Q1","JCRName":"COMPUTER SCIENCE, INFORMATION SYSTEMS","Score":null,"Total":0}
引用次数: 0
Abstract
Artificial Intelligence (AI)-enabled conversational agents (CAs) increasingly transform online customer service by acting as frontline workers. Understanding employees' attitudes toward these digital colleagues is crucial, as CAs blur the boundaries between human and machine roles. However, existing research often views CAs merely as tools rather than digital employees, neglecting their impact on employees' psychological drivers, such as job identity. This study introduces the perception of CAs as digital employees and develops a Job Identity Enhancement model to examine how human employees' job identity is influenced by their experience working with intelligent CAs. Empirical validation through a survey of frontline service workers reveals that the employees' perceptions of CA autonomy and learning capabilities enhance their job variety and job control, ultimately boosting their job identity and organizational commitment.
期刊介绍:
Information & Management is a publication that caters to researchers in the field of information systems as well as managers, professionals, administrators, and senior executives involved in designing, implementing, and managing Information Systems Applications.