Social Responses to Help from AI-enabled Voice Assistants and Their Effects on Job Satisfaction
Jonas Ossadnik, Katrin Susanne Muehlfeld, Laszlo Goerke · Academy of Management Proceedings · 2023
Increasing adoption of AI-enabled technology, such as digital voice assistants (VA), in the workplace raises questions about the consequences for employees of collaborating with such new technology. This study thus theorizes about employees’ perceptions of autonomy, organizational support, and psychological costs when receiving help from VA, a co-worker, or a conventional computer (technology); and analyzes the implications of these perceptions on job satisfaction. In a between-subject online vignette experiment, 225 participants assessed a workplace situation where they received help from one of the three sources. Participants collaborating with the VA or the co-worker perceived less autonomy and more psychological costs than those who collaborated with conventional technology. In contrast, regarding perceived organizational support, receiving help from the VA or the computer led to less perceived organizational support than receiving help from a co-worker. Further, autonomy and organizational support were significantly related to job satisfaction. Results show that the indirect effect on job satisfaction of receiving help from a VA differs from the indirect effects of receiving help from a human co-worker or conventional technology. These findings have important implications for organizations’ understanding of how the introduction of new technologies may influence the perceived job satisfaction of employees.