The mediating role of knowledge management practices and balanced scorecard in the association between artificial intelligence and organization performance: evidence from MENA region commercial banks

Recently, several research practitioners were recommended that artificial intelligence (AI), knowledge management practices (KMP) and balanced scorecard (BSC) should be taken into consideration collectively to more accurately predicts the consequences that they can have in terms of organizational performance (OP). Consequently, this research aims to answer these calls by providing and empirically testing a conceptual model that simultaneously take into account AI, KMP and BSC with regard to their interactions with and effects on OP. The main aim of this research is to assess the association between AI and OP; and whether this association is mediated through the bank’s KMP and through BSC implementation. To achieve this aim, nine hypotheses have been formulated and tested through a web-based survey that was distributed to 594 employees working in commercial banks operated in MENA region. The data have been analyzed using the partial least squares structural equation modeling (PLS-SEM) technique. The findings demonstrate the positive impact of the adoption of AI on KMP, BSC and OP along with the impact of KMP on BSC and OP. The findings also reveal that KMP act as a mediator through which AI influences BSC and OP. Further, the findings show that BSC has a significant positive effect on OP and act as a mediator through which AI influences OP. Hence, this research demonstrates that banks interested in using AI to improve performance must be very careful when taking KMP into account as a mediator mechanism.