REDUCING AI ANXIETY IN AI-ENABLED WORKPLACES: THE ROLES OF AI LITERACY, LEARNING AGILITY, PSYCHOLOGICAL EMPOWERMENT, AND FUTURE TIME PERSPECTIVE

Abstract

The opaque incorporation of artificial intelligence (AI) into the modern workplace has resulted in opportunities for increased productivity and optimizing tasks, but also raised psychological issues for employees pertaining to shifting work requirements, job skill requirements and employment prospects. For this reason, the present study examines how to manage anxiety triggering the use of AI in working environments and aims at developing a framework for dealing with such anxiety feelings by using the Conservation of Resources (COR) theory. In particular, the study aims to analyze the influence of AI literacy and learning agility on AI anxiety via the psychological empowerment toward AI and analyzes the role of the Future time perspective (FTP) as a moderator for this effect. The type of research was quantitative, descriptive survey, and the respondents of the main data were the employees in Organization where related to AI is present. A usable response rate of 66.25% was achieved from 400 questionnaires that were circulated. To test the hypothesised relationships, Partial Least Squares Structural Equation Modeling (PLS-SEM) was used. The results reveal that there is a positive relationship between AI literacy (beta = 0.361, p < 0.001) and learning agility (beta = 0.398, p < 0.001) and psychological empowerment, and psychological empowerment can have a negative relationship with AI anxiety (beta = −0.387, p < 0.001). Additionally, the path on AI literacy to AI anxiety is found to significantly mediate through psychological empowerment (β = −0.140, p < 0.001), as well as between learning agility and AI anxiety (β = −0.154, p < 0.001). Additionally, future time perspective is a significant moderator in the relationship between psychological empowerment and Anxiety (β = −0.126, p = 0.014), and the relationship between the indirect effect of AI literacy and learning agility on Anxiety is stronger at higher levels of future time perspective. The results have implications for COR theory by adding two factors: personal resources and psychological empowerment and perceptions for the future, as part of an explanation of employee responses to AI powered change in the workplace. The study further emphasizes that a combination of AI literacy development, ongoing learning, psychological empowerment and future-focused career guidance are key in organizational strategies for dealing with AI anxiety.