Employees’ smiling masks: Leader AI symbolization, facades of conformity, and the moderating role of personal utility of AI

BackgroundAlthough leader AI symbolization is commonly viewed as a means to promote employees' AI use, employees' apparent acceptance of AI may reflect compliance with leaders rather than genuine endorsement. However, little is known about how leader AI symbolization shapes employees' inauthentic behaviors.ObjectiveDrawing on social information processing theory, this study proposes that leader AI symbolization may induce employees' facades of conformity, thereby increasing negative work-related cognitions. We develop a mediated moderation model to examine how leader AI symbolization, as a social context, and personal utility of AI, as evaluation from past behavior, jointly influence work alienation through facades of conformity.MethodWe analyzed three-wave survey data from 567 employees in high-tech firms in China using Mplus, SPSS, and R.ResultsThe findings support our hypotheses. Leader AI symbolization positively predicts employees' facades of conformity, which in turn predicts work alienation. Moreover, personal utility of AI negatively moderates this indirect effect, such that higher personal utility of AI attenuates the adverse consequences of leader AI symbolization.ConclusionThis study identifies an overlooked dark side of leader AI symbolization by showing that it can elicit employees' inauthentic compliance and undermine their work experience. By highlighting personal utility of AI as a key boundary condition, our findings offer novel theoretical insights and practical guidance for managing employee responses to AI-related leadership.