Employees’ Trust in Artificial Intelligence in Companies: The Case of Energy and Chemical Industries in Poland

Justyna Łapińska, Iwona Escher, Joanna Górka, Agata Sudolska and Paweł Brzustewicz
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Justyna Łapińska: Department of Organizational Behavior and Marketing, Faculty of Economic Sciences and Management, Nicolaus Copernicus University, 87-100 Toruń, Poland
Iwona Escher: Department of Organizational Behavior and Marketing, Faculty of Economic Sciences and Management, Nicolaus Copernicus University, 87-100 Toruń, Poland
Agata Sudolska: Department of Enterprise Management, Faculty of Economic Sciences and Management, Nicolaus Copernicus University, 87-100 Toruń, Poland
Paweł Brzustewicz: Department of Organizational Behavior and Marketing, Faculty of Economic Sciences and Management, Nicolaus Copernicus University, 87-100 Toruń, Poland

Energies, 2021, vol. 14, issue 7, 1-20

Abstract: The use of artificial intelligence (AI) in companies is advancing rapidly. Consequently, multidisciplinary research on AI in business has developed dramatically during the last decade, moving from the focus on technological objectives towards an interest in human users’ perspective. In this article, we investigate the notion of employees’ trust in AI at the workplace (in the company), following a human-centered approach that considers AI integration in business from the employees’ perspective, taking into account the elements that facilitate human trust in AI. While employees’ trust in AI at the workplace seems critical, so far, few studies have systematically investigated its determinants. Therefore, this study is an attempt to fill the existing research gap. The research objective of the article is to examine links between employees’ trust in AI in the company and three other latent variables (general trust in technology, intra-organizational trust, and individual competence trust). A quantitative study conducted on a sample of 428 employees from companies of the energy and chemical industries in Poland allowed the hypotheses to be verified. The hypotheses were tested using structural equation modeling (SEM). The results indicate the existence of a positive relationship between general trust in technology and employees’ trust in AI in the company as well as between intra-organizational trust and employees’ trust in AI in the company in the surveyed firms.

Keywords: trust; artificial intelligence; employees; energy industry; chemical industry (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: Q Q0 Q4 Q40 Q41 Q42 Q43 Q47 Q48 Q49 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2021
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (3)

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