More than just Plug and Play: Early Evidence on Organisational Capital and AI Adoption

Diane Coyle, Nghi Nguyen, John Lourenze Poquiz and Rebecca Riley

Discussion Papers from Economic Statistics Centre of Excellence

Abstract: This paper provides early evidence that AI adoption by firms is linked to management practices in unique ways. Using panel data from the UK Management and Expectations Survey (MES), we find that firms with higher baseline management scores are significantly more likely to adopt AI. This relationship is specific to AI: the same management practices show no relationship with the adoption of other technologies such as robotics, specialized equipment, or specialized software. We also find that management capabilities related to performance measurement appear strongly related to AI adoption. These results suggest that organisational complementarities are specific to different technologies, with implications for policies to encourage AI adoption by firms.

Keywords: AI; technology adoption; management practices; technology diffusion; organisational capital; decentralisation; ICT (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: D24 L23 O31 O33 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2026-09-28
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:eoe:escoed:escoe-dp-2026-13

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