Employees’ perception of generative artificial intelligence and the dark side of work outcomes

Artificial intelligence (as well as generative AI) has been increasingly applied in the tourism and hospitality industry and has an important impact on the work behavior of practitioners. Drawing from the transactional theory of stress and coping, this study is to clarify the mechanism of potential negative impact of AI on the work outcomes of tourism and hospitality practitioners who use generative AI (GenAI) to assist their work. This study conducts in-depth interviews and thematic analysis to explore how the use of GenAI affects negative work behaviors among tourism and hospitality practitioners. The results show that employees’ technical fear towards AI is negatively associated with their sense of realism, self-investment, and habitual perception, but positively associated with the perceived threat of job intelligence to employment. Moreover, the technical fear towards AI can be positively associated with their transgression behavior. The findings of this study can be illuminating for helping tourism and hospitality organizations develop sustainable and healthy workplace guidelines.