The impact of AI on employees’ well-being in different hierarchical positions

Abstract

The significance of Artificial Intelligence (AI) has been rapidly increasing. In addition to changing our lives, these technologies are essential for enhancing how businesses operate by doing activities more quickly, more effectively, and more affordable. At the moment, a new concept is beginning to take shape: AI as a leader. The workplace will undoubtedly be impacted by this new leadership. However, humans have something that AI, for now, it’s not able to have: emotional characteristics. So, this dissertation intends to study the effects that AI, in its different hierarchical positions, has on employees' well-being, more concretely in Emotional Satisfaction and Job Satisfaction. I proposed an experimental investigation to try to evaluate the effect of these roles of AI by manipulating the independent variable. The research presents one of the two scenarios, AI as a leader or as a colleague, to the participants to test the effects that AI’s roles may have on the well-being of the employee. The study's findings did not support the hypothesis that AI as a leader will result in less Job satisfaction in comparison with AI as a colleague, but supported the fact that AI leadership will lower levels of employee emotional satisfaction in comparison to AI as a colleague. This thesis is the first contribution to fill the research gap of how the presence and functions of AI in the workplace may lead to different effects on the well-being of employees.

Date of Award	26 Jan 2024
Original language	English
Awarding Institution	Universidade Católica Portuguesa
Supervisor	Filipa de Almeida (Supervisor)