Please use this identifier to cite or link to this item:
http://hdl.handle.net/11375/29298
Title: | The Willingness to Collaborate with Artificial Intelligence (AI) in the Workplace: The Role of AI Autonomy and Explainability |
Authors: | Abdelhalim, Esraa |
Advisor: | Hassanein, Khaled Head, Milena |
Department: | Business Administration |
Publication Date: | 2023 |
Abstract: | The world has recently witnessed rapid developments in Machine Learning (ML) algorithms, computing infrastructure, and the vast amounts of data available and accessible anytime and anywhere. This has facilitated a boom in the field of Artificial Intelligence (AI) in terms of the applications and benefits AI potentially brings to everyday life. AI is a technology that is able to interact, function on its own, explain, and learn from past experiences to inform its future actions and decisions. Generative AI is now changing the way we live, interact, and work, affecting all sectors of society. It is becoming mature enough that AI is transitioning from being a mere assistive technology to being an actor similar to humans with whom we can collaborate. Many organizations, thus, seek to leverage AI and utilize its capabilities to achieve greater efficiency and effectiveness. Such organizations integrate AI in the workplace to handle many routine and repetitive tasks and free employees for more complex work. This does not mean that humans and AI work in isolation, however. Rather, it means that humans and AI can work together as collaborators to reach better decisions and overcome each other’s weaknesses and deficiencies. Although there is extensive literature on how new information technologies are adopted and accepted, there is little empirical work that studies how innovative technologies such as AI can become effective collaborators with humans in the workplace and the conditions under which humans are willing to collaborate with them. Therefore, this research proposes and empirically validates a new contextualized conceptual model that furthers our understanding of the factors that influence humans’ willingness to collaborate with AI in organizational settings. Specifically, this work focuses on the role of AI autonomy and AI explainability (as AI contextual characteristics) in shaping people’s beliefs about having AI as collaborators in the decision-making process. This study leverages the Actor-Network Theory and Net-Valence Theory as foundations to understand this phenomenon. Perceiving AI as a collaborator in the workplace is a nascent phenomenon that has both concerns and benefits. Such concerns and benefits are not fully understood in the existing literature. Therefore, the proposed study employs a two-stage sequential mixed-methods approach to investigate this phenomenon. First, a qualitative study was conducted using one-on-one interviews to understand the top concerns and benefits of individuals in collaborating with AI in the workplace. Findings from the qualitative study were then used to fine-tune the proposed conceptual research model. The model was validated through a 2x2 factorial design scenario-based survey study using consistent Partial Least Squares (PLSc) as a Structural Equation Modeling (SEM) technique. Contributions to theory and practice are discussed, and study limitations and future work are outlined. |
URI: | http://hdl.handle.net/11375/29298 |
Appears in Collections: | Open Access Dissertations and Theses |
Files in This Item:
File | Description | Size | Format | |
---|---|---|---|---|
2023_Final-Esraa_Thesis-Submit.pdf | 2.58 MB | Adobe PDF | View/Open |
Items in MacSphere are protected by copyright, with all rights reserved, unless otherwise indicated.