Can AI benefit individual resilience? The mediation roles of AI routinization and infusion

The recent COVID-19 pandemic has raised concerns about individual resilience in the face of adversity. The abundant research suggested that artificial intelligence (AI) can help organizations handle changes during this challenging period. However, little empirical research has explored whether the presence of AI enhances individual resilience against adversities. Drawing on the reciprocal determinism theory, this study considers the formation of two typical post-adoption behaviors and their subsequent results in individual resilience. The structural equation modeling shows that AI factors (usability and sociability) and personal factors (self-efficacy) determine usage behaviors (routine and infusion use), in turn affecting individual resilience. The OLS results suggest the right half of the U-shaped relationships between infusion use and resilience. Two-step fsQCA offers three configurations resulting in high resilience under the different presence of AI factors and also suggests the roles of user behaviors. The study provides new theoretical enlightenment for the impact of digital service technology on individuals and enriches the existing literature on the usage of digital service technology. The findings provide practical implications for practitioners to design AI products better to improve smart service experience.