Organizational AI Readiness : Evaluating Employee Attitudes and Management Responses

Abstract: Background - As a result of the latest advances in artificial intelligence (AI), the world ofbusiness is facing a major transformation where basic organizational principlesare redefined initiating a new era. It is predicted that AI in the coming decadeswill make a significant imprint and organizations aiming to stay at the forefrontcannot afford not to change. AI adoption can bring great benefits to organizationswhere a crucial factor is to establish AI readiness. However, as in any change,different perceptions are raised among employees which can either hinder orfoster organizational AI readiness, placing leaders in a crucial position. Purpose - The purpose of this study is to investigate how managers can foster organizationalAI readiness by understanding distinctive features of employee AI attitudes. Byidentifying how employees develop change attitudes towards AI, the opportunityto explore how managers should respond to these attitudes in order to achieve AIreadiness opens. Method - To gain a greater understanding of the phenomenon managing AI attitudes and tofulfil the purpose of the study, a mix of a qualitative and quantitative researchmethodology was used. The empirical data were abductively collected through asingle case study via a survey containing 80 respondents and through a focusgroup including six participants holding different roles affected by an AIimplementation. The empirical data were processed using thematic analysis andfurther analysed through systematic combining. Conclusions - The conclusions in this study confirm already existing theory. It also expands itas the phenomenon managing attitudes towards AI change was placed in a newcontext. The research results indicate that employees’ change attitudes towardsAI are affected by the organizational AI maturity, personal interest, and personaland organizational AI knowledge. They also indicate that employees develop theirchange attitudes towards AI depending on how managers handle or not handletheir attitudes. Finally, four dimensions along which leaders should manageemployee change attitudes to promote AI readiness were elaborated.