- Research Article
- 10.5465/amproc.2025.10292symposium
Work Design in the Age of AI: The Role of Task Characteristics, Job Identity, and Disclosure of Use
- Jul 01, 2025
- Academy of Management Proceedings
- Thea Ebert + 8 more +8
In today’s evolving world of work, Artificial Intelligence (AI) has emerged not merely as a technological tool but as a catalyst for rethinking how jobs are structured and performed (Bankins et al., 2024; Parker & Grote, 2022). Across diverse job families and organizational contexts, tools like generative AI (GAI) go beyond mere instruments for data analysis or structuring and can adopt increasingly far-reaching roles through rapid progress in generating new graphic or textual content or algorithmic decision making (Ferràs- Hernández, 2018; Walsh et al. 2019). Central to this symposium is the recognition that this changing nature of work due to digitalization, propelled by AI and related tools, calls for a fresh look at established theories of job design and strategies for human resource management. Traditionally, research has illuminated how fostering characteristics like autonomy, skill and task variety, or adequate demands affect employee motivation, satisfaction, and well-being and thereby further organizational outcomes (Oldham & Fried, 2016; Parker et al., 2017). Yet the introduction of AI – particularly generative AI – adds complexity: Who performs which tasks? How are decisions made, and by whom? Which skills remain uniquely human, and which may be augmented or even entirely adopted by AI? Such questions demand a more nuanced and strategic approach to designing work in the future that balances efficiency and innovation with psychological and ethical considerations. The four presentations in this symposium aim to contribute to theory building on how AI affects work in terms of work design, the interplay of employees and AI use, and work outcomes. In particular, they highlight potential risks or unique challenges when working with AI (e.g., in terms of less enriched work, lowered autonomy levels, threats to job identity or risks due to disclosure of use) and path the way for interventions to achieve benefits of such technologies at work. In detail, the empirical studies in this symposium illuminate these issues at three interconnected levels: 1. Task-Level Insights: Two contributions focus on the more granular task characteristics (e.g., autonomy, skill variety) in modern, AI-enhanced work contexts. They demonstrate how AI use influences the allocation of specific tasks when designing work roles and how the perception of task characteristics changes when AI is used in a decision-making task. 2. Job- and Identity-Level: One paper zooms out from individual tasks to jobs as a whole and explores how AI-driven change might disrupt employees’ job identity. This lens demonstrates how task changes cascade into bigger questions of role definition and identity. 3. Organizational Context: Finally, one presentation adopts the broadest perspective and investigates managerial and organizational factors that might shape employees’ willingness to disclose and ethically integrate AI tools. Taken together, these presentations point toward a future in which AI’s transformative potential hinges on thoughtful coordination across tasks, roles, and organizational systems. By combining established frameworks with new insights drawn from (quantitative and qualitative) surveys and experiments conducted in Germany, Austria, the United States, the United Kingdom, and Australia, these contributions illustrate how AI can enrich, rather than diminish, work and thereby strengthen human-centered organizations. By focusing on variables at different levels, the studies path the way for applications in practice, emphasizing the importance of individual approaches (e.g., training for job design, supporting self-efficacy), or on the organizational level (e.g., aligning HR practices, develop clear and supportive organizational policies and guidelines for the use of AI at work). Investigating the Influence of Work Design Perspective and AI Integration on Enriched Job Design Author: Tanja Bipp; Heidelberg University Author: Thea Ebert; Aalen University Collaborative Intelligence: Integrating Generative AI in Knowledge Work and its Impact on Job Design Author: Sabina Hodzic; University of Graz Author: Simon Grob; University of Graz Author: Bettina Kubicek; University of Graz Job Identity as Starting Point for SHRM in AI-Driven Organizational Change Author: Sophie Berretta; Ruhr University Bochum Author: Annette Kluge; Ruhr University Bochum Silent Adoption: Understanding the Drivers of Non-Disclosure of Generative AI Tools by Employees Author: Fangfang Zhang; Curtin University - Perth
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