Scourge or Source of Opportunity?The Double-Edged Effect of AI Disruption Awareness on Employees’ Thriving at Work

Abstract As artificial intelligence becomes embedded in work, employees increasingly perceive risks of job replacement and redesign. Yet how AI disruption awareness affects thriving at work remains unclear. Drawing on conservation of resources theory and the job demands–resources model, we build a dual-path chain mediation model that includes knowledge acquisition versus knowledge hiding and job security versus job insecurity, and examine the moderating roles of promotion-focused and prevention-focused job crafting. Based on a three-wave time-lagged survey of 600 full-time employees, we find that AI disruption awareness simultaneously stimulates knowledge acquisition and knowledge hiding. Knowledge acquisition enhances job security and, in turn, thriving at work, whereas knowledge hiding increases job insecurity and undermines thriving at work. Promotion-focused job crafting strengthens the resource gain path, while prevention-focused job crafting amplifies the resource loss path. These findings reveal the double-edged nature of AI disruption awareness for employees’ thriving at work and enrich research on thriving and coping with AI-driven technological change.