Browsing by Author "Macnab-Holding, Cuan Selkirk"

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    Exploring employees’ subjective experience of psychological empowerment after adopting Artificial Intelligence technology
    (Stellenbosch : Stellenbosch University, 2023-12) Macnab-Holding, Cuan Selkirk; Adams, Samantha; Stellenbosch University. Faculty of Economic and Management Sciences. Dept. of Industrial Psychology.
    ENGLISH SUMMARY: The Fourth Industrial Revolution (4IR) is characterised by an environment which is highly complex, dynamic, and uncertain, accompanied by an influx of technological advancements. As technology advancements influence employees’ work environment and to varying degrees the way they are required to work, it will be important to understand to what extent this influences feelings of psychological empowerment within the work role. Psychological empowerment is defined as intrinsic task motivation reflecting a sense of control in relation to one’s work and an active orientation to one’s work role that is manifested in four cognitions: meaning, self-determination, competence, and impact. It is positively associated with showing initiative, coping with uncertainty, and embracing risks. Therefore, given the 4IR environment it will be important to have employees who are psychologically empowered and thus display the associated behaviour. Even though psychological empowerment is a well-established construct, it is proposed that employees' perceptions towards feeling psychologically empowered in their work may change to some extent because of this new environment. Due to scant literature on psychological empowerment in the 4IR context, it is therefore important to better understand this construct within this context so that practitioners are equipped to make more informed decisions about the strategic integration of humans and technology in their work tasks. A qualitative exploration of experiences therefore was warranted to better understand how individuals make sense of their encounters with Artificial Intelligence (AI) technology. Accordingly, the aim is to establish a better understanding of the perceived psychological empowerment of employees who have recently adopted AI in their work. Employing a phenomenological research design, semi-structured in-depth interviews were conducted to understand the lived experiences of employees when engaging with AI technology. Purposive sampling was utilised to recruit a sample of 12 commerce and financial services sector professionals that had adopted AI technology in the last 6-36 months. The data was analysed using thematic analysis. The findings yielded four primary themes that were identified from the participants’ lived experiences, namely: (1) enhanced work experiences through AI integration, (2) impact of AI on emotional, cognitive, and motivation dynamics, (3) AI’s role in influencing self-efficacy and decision making, and (4) AI as a growth tool. The findings indicated both positive and negative consequences of AI’s role in participants’ perceptions of psychological empowerment. In sum, the findings support the advancement of the adoption of this technology which in certain contexts may be perceived as psychologically empowering. Additionally, this research can be the departure point for better understanding human-AI integration from a psychological perspective, which can contribute towards professionals strategically integrating humans and AI in the 4IR context.