Uncertainty management, transformational leadership, and job performance in an AI-powered organizational context

ABSTRACT This study coupled the theory of uncertainty management (TUM) with the notion of transformational leadership (TFL) to examine how the uncertainty over the adoption of artificial intelligence (AI) technologies affects employees. SEM analyses with two-wave data collected in Japan (N = 1318 employee–supervisor dyads) revealed that uncertainty is negatively associated and TFL is positively associated with employees’ job performance. In addition, consistent with TUM, the digital literacy of leaders was found to moderate the effects of TFL such that the positive association between TFL and job performance disappeared when employees simultaneously feel high uncertainty and find supervisors low on digital literacy. These findings are discussed with reference to the relevant literature.