Thinking Skills Don’t Protect Service Workers from Replacement by Artificial Intelligence

Ficha

Autoría

Vorobeva, Darina
El Fassi, Yasmina
Costa Pinto, Diego
Hildebrand, Diego
Herter, Márcia M.
Mattila, Anna S.

Título

Thinking Skills Don’t Protect Service Workers from Replacement by Artificial Intelligence

Descripción

Despite the documented benefits of Artificial Intelligence (AI) to the service industry, the service employees’ fear of being replaced by AI continues to be a major concern as we transition to the Feeling Economy. This paper builds upon the Feeling Economy framework and the social comparison theory to examine how different service-related tasks (thinking vs feeling) distinctively impact the service employees’ feelings and behavior. Five studies reveal that the presence of AI increases negative outcomes for employees engaging in thinking (vs. feeling) tasks due to its adverse effects on their perceived ability (i.e., relative performance). Findings further indicate that these detrimental effects only happen when service employees compare their abilities with those of AI. This research provides important theoretical and managerial implications, helping to mitigate AI’s negative outcomes on employees’ fear of replacement and reduced job performance.

Cita bibliográfica

Vorobeva, D., El Fassi, Y., Costa Pinto, D., Hildebrand, D., Herter, M. M., & Mattila, A. S. (2022). Thinking Skills Don’t Protect Service Workers from Replacement by Artificial Intelligence. Journal of Service Research, 25(4), 601-613. https://doi.org/10.1177/10946705221104312 (Original work published 2022)

Revista

Journal of Service Research vol. 25 no. 4

Editor

Sage

Fecha de publicación

2022

issn

1552-7379

uri

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jbusres.2022.04.065