The indirect effect of artificial intelligence awareness on counterproductive work behavior: A meta-analytic study

BackgroundAs artificial intelligence (AI) becomes increasingly integrated into the workplace, an important question concerns how employees respond when technological change is perceived as threatening rather than beneficial. Prior studies have examined several mechanisms linking AI awareness to employee attitudes and behaviors, but these mechanisms are often studied separately, limiting understanding of the broader psychological process underlying adverse employee reactions.ObjectiveThis study examines the mediating roles of job insecurity and psychological contract breach in the relationship between AI awareness and counterproductive work behavior (CWB).MethodsUsing meta-analytic structural equation modeling (MASEM), we synthesized 45 independent studies involving 16,140 participants to test whether AI awareness influences CWB sequentially through job insecurity and psychological contract breach.ResultsBased on a pooled true-score correlation matrix, AI awareness was positively associated with job insecurity and CWB. Job insecurity was positively associated with psychological contract breach, which in turn was positively associated with CWB. The MASEM results indicated a significant but modest sequential indirect effect of AI awareness on CWB through job insecurity and psychological contract breach, alongside a substantial direct effect of AI awareness on CWB.ConclusionThe findings clarify how awareness of AI may contribute to negative workplace behavior. Job insecurity and psychological contract breach constitute a significant but relatively modest sequential pathway linking AI awareness to CWB. Because a substantial direct effect remained, additional psychological and organizational mechanisms are likely to contribute to employee responses to AI-related workplace change. These findings extend research on employee reactions to emerging workplace technologies.