IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/pal/palcom/v10y2023i1d10.1057_s41599-023-01843-3.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

AI technology application and employee responsibility

Author

Listed:
  • Jing Wang

    (Zhejiang University of Technology)

  • Zeyu Xing

    (Wuhan University)

  • Rui Zhang

    (Zhejiang University of Technology)

Abstract

Employees are important stakeholders of firms, and employee responsibility is a crucial dimension of corporate social responsibility. This study employed a multivariable linear regression model to analyze the impact of AI technology on the variation in employee responsibility. We also utilized multiple methods, such as propensity score matching and alternative indicator analysis, to ensure the robustness of the research results. We theorized and found that the application of AI technology has a negative effect on employee responsibility, with supervision cost partially mediating the relationship between AI technology application and employee responsibility. Moreover, the negative relationship between AI technology application and employee responsibility decreases as the level of product market competition in which the firm operates increases, and it is stronger in government-controlled firms than in privately controlled firms. We also found that AI technology application and employee responsibility can improve firm productivity, and employee responsibility has a significant positive impact on innovation output and innovation efficiency, while the application of AI technology does not significantly impact innovation output and innovation efficiency. Our study contributes to research on the impact of AI technology in the workplace and has important implications for organizational practices regarding the application of AI technology and employee responsibility.

Suggested Citation

  • Jing Wang & Zeyu Xing & Rui Zhang, 2023. "AI technology application and employee responsibility," Palgrave Communications, Palgrave Macmillan, vol. 10(1), pages 1-17, December.
  • Handle: RePEc:pal:palcom:v:10:y:2023:i:1:d:10.1057_s41599-023-01843-3
    DOI: 10.1057/s41599-023-01843-3
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://link.springer.com/10.1057/s41599-023-01843-3
    File Function: Abstract
    Download Restriction: Access to full text is restricted to subscribers.

    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1057/s41599-023-01843-3?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Robert J. Gordon, 2016. "The Rise and Fall of American Growth: The U.S. Standard of Living since the Civil War," Economics Books, Princeton University Press, edition 1, number 10544.
    2. Alina Köchling & Marius Claus Wehner, 2020. "Discriminated by an algorithm: a systematic review of discrimination and fairness by algorithmic decision-making in the context of HR recruitment and HR development," Business Research, Springer;German Academic Association for Business Research, vol. 13(3), pages 795-848, November.
    3. Ghosal, Vivek & Loungani, Prakash, 1996. "Product Market Competition and the Impact of Price Uncertainty on Investment: Some Evidence from US Manufacturing Industries," Journal of Industrial Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 44(2), pages 217-228, June.
    4. Gries, Thomas & Naude, Wim, 2018. "Artificial intelligence, jobs, inequality and productivity: Does aggregate demand matter?," MERIT Working Papers 2018-047, United Nations University - Maastricht Economic and Social Research Institute on Innovation and Technology (MERIT).
    5. Xu, Mingli & Kong, Gaowen & Kong, Dongmin, 2017. "Does wage justice hamper creativity? Pay gap and firm innovation in China," China Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 44(C), pages 186-202.
    6. Brougham, David & Haar, Jarrod, 2018. "Smart Technology, Artificial Intelligence, Robotics, and Algorithms (STARA): Employees’ perceptions of our future workplace," Journal of Management & Organization, Cambridge University Press, vol. 24(2), pages 239-257, March.
    7. Sucheta Nadkarni & Pamela S. Barr, 2008. "Environmental context, managerial cognition, and strategic action: an integrated view," Strategic Management Journal, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 29(13), pages 1395-1427, December.
    8. Lei Guo & Luying Xu, 2021. "The Effects of Digital Transformation on Firm Performance: Evidence from China’s Manufacturing Sector," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(22), pages 1-18, November.
    9. John C. Driscoll & Aart C. Kraay, 1998. "Consistent Covariance Matrix Estimation With Spatially Dependent Panel Data," The Review of Economics and Statistics, MIT Press, vol. 80(4), pages 549-560, November.
    10. Robert Padgett & Jose Galan, 2010. "The Effect of R&D Intensity on Corporate Social Responsibility," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 93(3), pages 407-418, May.
    11. Shan Xu & Duchi Liu, 2017. "Corporate social responsibility (CSR) and corporate diversification: do diversified production firms invest more in CSR?," Applied Economics Letters, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 24(4), pages 254-257, February.
    12. Berry, Charles H, 1971. "Corporate Growth and Diversification," Journal of Law and Economics, University of Chicago Press, vol. 14(2), pages 371-384, October.
    13. Elizabeth M. Freund, 2001. "FIZZ, FROTH, FLAT: The Challenge of Converting China's SOEs into Shareholding Corporations," Review of Policy Research, Policy Studies Organization, vol. 18(1), pages 96-111, March.
    14. Kasahara, Hiroyuki & Rodrigue, Joel, 2008. "Does the use of imported intermediates increase productivity? Plant-level evidence," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 87(1), pages 106-118, August.
    15. Junyi Wu & Shari Shang, 2020. "Managing Uncertainty in AI-Enabled Decision Making and Achieving Sustainability," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(21), pages 1-17, October.
    16. Jeffrey S. Harrison & Douglas A. Bosse & Robert A. Phillips, 2010. "Managing for stakeholders, stakeholder utility functions, and competitive advantage," Strategic Management Journal, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 31(1), pages 58-74, January.
    17. Robert J. Gordon, 2018. "Why Has Economic Growth Slowed When Innovation Appears to be Accelerating?," NBER Working Papers 24554, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    18. Guangming Gong & Xin Huang & Sirui Wu & Haowen Tian & Wanjin Li, 2021. "Punishment by Securities Regulators, Corporate Social Responsibility and the Cost of Debt," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 171(2), pages 337-356, June.
    19. Jeffrey Unerman, 2000. "Methodological issues ‐ Reflections on quantification in corporate social reporting content analysis," Accounting, Auditing & Accountability Journal, Emerald Group Publishing Limited, vol. 13(5), pages 667-681, December.
    20. Zhang, Dongyang & Liu, Deqiang, 2017. "Determinants of the capital structure of Chinese non-listed enterprises: Is TFP efficient?," Economic Systems, Elsevier, vol. 41(2), pages 179-202.
    21. J. P. Eggers & Sarah Kaplan, 2009. "Cognition and Renewal: Comparing CEO and Organizational Effects on Incumbent Adaptation to Technical Change," Organization Science, INFORMS, vol. 20(2), pages 461-477, April.
    22. Fama, Eugene F, 1980. "Agency Problems and the Theory of the Firm," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 88(2), pages 288-307, April.
    23. Bryan Hong & Zhichuan Li & Dylan Minor, 2016. "Corporate Governance and Executive Compensation for Corporate Social Responsibility," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 136(1), pages 199-213, June.
    24. Xhavit Islami & Naim Mustafa & Marija Topuzovska Latkovikj, 2020. "Linking Porter’s generic strategies to firm performance," Future Business Journal, Springer, vol. 6(1), pages 1-15, December.
    25. repec:eme:aaaj00:09513570010353756 is not listed on IDEAS
    26. Asim Ijaz Khwaja & Atif Mian, 2005. "Do Lenders Favor Politically Connected Firms? Rent Provision in an Emerging Financial Market," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 120(4), pages 1371-1411.
    27. Vincent, Vinod U., 2021. "Integrating intuition and artificial intelligence in organizational decision-making," Business Horizons, Elsevier, vol. 64(4), pages 425-438.
    28. Yingyi Qian, 1996. "Enterprise reform in China: agency problems and political control," The Economics of Transition, The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development, vol. 4(2), pages 427-447, October.
    29. Jensen, Michael C. & Meckling, William H., 1976. "Theory of the firm: Managerial behavior, agency costs and ownership structure," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 3(4), pages 305-360, October.
    30. James S. Ang & Rebel A. Cole & James Wuh Lin, 2000. "Agency Costs and Ownership Structure," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 55(1), pages 81-106, February.
    31. Nandini Gupta, 2005. "Partial Privatization and Firm Performance," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 60(2), pages 987-1015, April.
    32. Behrooz Gharleghi & Asghar Afshar Jahanshahi & Khaled Nawaser, 2018. "The Outcomes of Corporate Social Responsibility to Employees: Empirical Evidence from a Developing Country," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 10(3), pages 1-15, March.
    33. Chong-En Bai & Jiangyong Lu & Zhigang Tao, 2006. "The Multitask Theory of State Enterprise Reform: Empirical Evidence from China," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 96(2), pages 353-357, May.
    34. Theresa S. Cho & Donald C. Hambrick, 2006. "Attention as the Mediator Between Top Management Team Characteristics and Strategic Change: The Case of Airline Deregulation," Organization Science, INFORMS, vol. 17(4), pages 453-469, August.
    35. Gao, Yongqiang & Yang, Haibin, 2016. "Do Employees Support Corporate Philanthropy? Evidence from Chinese Listed Companies," Management and Organization Review, Cambridge University Press, vol. 12(4), pages 747-768, December.
    36. Kannan Ramaswamy, 2001. "Organizational ownership, competitive intensity, and firm performance: an empirical study of the Indian manufacturing sector," Strategic Management Journal, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 22(10), pages 989-998, October.
    37. Yituan Liu & Yabin Bian & Wenhao Zhang, 2022. "How Does Enterprises’ Digital Transformation Impact the Educational Structure of Employees? Evidence from China," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(15), pages 1-25, August.
    38. Gordon, Robert J., 2018. "Why Has Economic Growth Slowed When Innovation Appears To Be Accelerating?," CEPR Discussion Papers 13039, C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers.
    39. Siliang Tong & Nan Jia & Xueming Luo & Zheng Fang, 2021. "The Janus face of artificial intelligence feedback: Deployment versus disclosure effects on employee performance," Strategic Management Journal, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 42(9), pages 1600-1631, September.
    40. Meihong Dai & Xianneng Li & Yuduo Lu, 2017. "How Urbanization Economies Impact TFP of R&D Performers: Evidence from China," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 9(10), pages 1-17, September.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Simona-Vasilica Oprea & Adela Bâra, 2024. "Exploring excitement counterbalanced by concerns towards AI technology using a descriptive-prescriptive data processing method," Palgrave Communications, Palgrave Macmillan, vol. 11(1), pages 1-24, December.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Zhe Zhang & Xin Wang & Ming Jia, 2021. "Echoes of CEO Entrepreneurial Orientation: How and When CEO Entrepreneurial Orientation Influences Dual CSR Activities," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 169(4), pages 609-629, April.
    2. Naudé, Wim, 2020. "From the Entrepreneurial to the Ossified Economy: Evidence, Explanations and a New Perspective," GLO Discussion Paper Series 539, Global Labor Organization (GLO).
    3. Kevin Amess & Jun Du & Sourafel Girma, 2009. "Full and Partial Privatization in China: The Labor Consequences," Discussion Papers 09/11, University of Nottingham, GEP.
    4. Naudé, Wim, 2019. "The Decline in Entrepreneurship in the West: Is Complexity Ossifying the Economy?," IZA Discussion Papers 12602, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    5. Giacomo Damioli & Vincent Van Roy & Daniel Vertesy, 2021. "The impact of artificial intelligence on labor productivity," Eurasian Business Review, Springer;Eurasia Business and Economics Society, vol. 11(1), pages 1-25, March.
    6. Sun, Sophia Li & Habib, Ahsan & Huang, Hedy Jiaying, 2019. "Tournament incentives and stock price crash risk: Evidence from China," Pacific-Basin Finance Journal, Elsevier, vol. 54(C), pages 93-117.
    7. Weiß, Christian, 2010. "The Ownership Concentration of Firms: Three Essays on the Determinants and Effects," EconStor Theses, ZBW - Leibniz Information Centre for Economics, number 30247, September.
    8. Xiaoyi Ren & Xing Liu & Zongtao Tian, 2020. "Excess perks in SOEs: evidence from China," Asian-Pacific Economic Literature, The Crawford School, The Australian National University, vol. 34(2), pages 152-165, November.
    9. Thomas Keil & Markku Maula & Evangelos Syrigos, 2017. "CEO Entrepreneurial Orientation, Entrenchment, and Firm Value Creation," Entrepreneurship Theory and Practice, , vol. 41(4), pages 475-504, July.
    10. Ding, Mingfa, 2014. "Political Connections and Stock Liquidity: Political Network, Hierarchy and Intervention," Knut Wicksell Working Paper Series 2014/7, Lund University, Knut Wicksell Centre for Financial Studies.
    11. Chakraborty, Atreya & Gao, Lucia Silva & Sheikh, Shahbaz, 2019. "Managerial risk taking incentives, corporate social responsibility and firm risk," Journal of Economics and Business, Elsevier, vol. 101(C), pages 58-72.
    12. Ciprian Stan & Mike Peng & Garry Bruton, 2014. "Slack and the performance of state-owned enterprises," Asia Pacific Journal of Management, Springer, vol. 31(2), pages 473-495, June.
    13. Dean A. Shepherd & Jeffery S. Mcmullen & William Ocasio, 2017. "Is that an opportunity? An attention model of top managers' opportunity beliefs for strategic action," Strategic Management Journal, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 38(3), pages 626-644, March.
    14. McKnight, Phillip J. & Weir, Charlie, 2009. "Agency costs, corporate governance mechanisms and ownership structure in large UK publicly quoted companies: A panel data analysis," The Quarterly Review of Economics and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 49(2), pages 139-158, May.
    15. Michael Ryngaert & Shawn Thomas, 2012. "Not All Related Party Transactions (RPTs) Are the Same: Ex Ante Versus Ex Post RPTs," Journal of Accounting Research, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 50(3), pages 845-882, June.
    16. Desmond (Ho-Fu) Lo & Francisco Brahm & Wouter Dessein & Chieko Minami, 2022. "Managing with Style? Microevidence on the Allocation of Managerial Attention," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 68(11), pages 8261-8285, November.
    17. Mahmoud Agha & Baban Eulaiwi, 2020. "The alignment effects of CEO stock incentives in the presence of government ownership: International evidence from Gulf Cooperation Council countries," Australian Journal of Management, Australian School of Business, vol. 45(2), pages 195-222, May.
    18. Jo, Hoje & Song, Moon H. & Tsang, Albert, 2016. "Corporate social responsibility and stakeholder governance around the world," Global Finance Journal, Elsevier, vol. 29(C), pages 42-69.
    19. Naudé, Wim, 2020. "Industrialization under Medieval Conditions? Global Development after COVID-19," IZA Discussion Papers 13829, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    20. Mohamed Toukabri & Lamia Kalai, 2024. "How does sustainability leadership improve climate change reporting? The choices associated with a sustainable board- A management perspective," Mitigation and Adaptation Strategies for Global Change, Springer, vol. 29(7), pages 1-48, October.

    More about this item

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:pal:palcom:v:10:y:2023:i:1:d:10.1057_s41599-023-01843-3. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Sonal Shukla or Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.nature.com/ .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.