The impact of AI usage on employee work outcomes: The mediating roles of personal control and job insecurity and the moderating role of AI trust

Author

Tiantian WANG, Singapore Management UniversityFollow

Publication Type

PhD Dissertation

Version

publishedVersion

Publication Date

4-2025

Abstract

The widespread application of artificial intelligence (AI) technology in the workplace offers significant potential for process optimization andperformance improvement. However, the psychological mechanisms throughwhich AI usage affects employee outcomes remain underexplored. To address this gap, the present study investigated a sample of 170 employees froma media company in China, utilizing a three-wave longitudinal survey design. Specifically, this study examined how AI usage influenced employee creativity and task performance improvement through two mediatingmechanisms: the enhancement of personal control in problem-solving and the elicitation of job insecurity. Furthermore, the moderating role of trust in AI inthe relationship between AI usage and job insecurity was explored. The results revealed that AI usage significantly promoted employee creativity and taskperformance improvement by enhancing personal control, but alsosignificantly increased job insecurity. However, job insecurity did not have a significant negative impact on either creativity or task performance improvement, and the moderating effect of trust in AI was not supported. Potential explanations for these findings—such as the contextual specificity of the media industry sample — are discussed. Finally, this study outlines theoretical contributions and practical implications, and recommends that future research expand across industrial and cultural contexts, incorporate multilevel variables, and adopt longitudinal and experimental designs to better capture the dynamic impact of AI technology on employee experiences.

Keywords

AI usage, personal control, job insecurity, trust in AI, taskperformance, employee creativity

Degree Awarded

Doctor of Business Administration (Accounting and Finance)

Discipline

Accounting | Artificial Intelligence and Robotics | Organization Development

Supervisor(s)

TAN, Hwee Hoon

First Page

1

Last Page

129

Publisher

Singapore Management University

City or Country

Singapore

Citation

WANG, Tiantian. The impact of AI usage on employee work outcomes: The mediating roles of personal control and job insecurity and the moderating role of AI trust. (2025). 1-129.
Available at: https://ink.library.smu.edu.sg/etd_coll/690

Copyright Owner and License

Author

Creative Commons License

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-No Derivative Works 4.0 International License.