Are you ready to delegate decisions to AI? Insights into decision delegation behaviors

An alternate who is wise, experienced, and capable of making rationally optimal decisions on our behalf is neither a hyperbolical illusion, nor a far-fetched future scenario. Intelligent algorithms have emerged as very powerful potential decision-makers. Owing to their pure rationality and high computational power, they are superior to human decision-makers in many contexts. For many firms, the ability to integrate algorithms into (strategic) decision-making is likely to become a key competitive success factor, if not a requirement for survival. However, there is an aversion to delegate to non-human decision-makers. To most managers, algorithms are non-transparent ‘black boxes’ of unknown mechanisms. Based on a quasi-experimental study with a cross-national sample of German and U.S. participants, we analyze delegation behaviors to algorithms in strategic decision contexts. We illustrate that building attachment to a non-human object is becoming a relevant consideration. This finding underlines the importance of providing managers with opportunities to get to know the algorithms, to become familiar with the technology, and to gain experience in interacting with algorithms in order to increase their attachment to non-human colleagues. Further, we reveal cultural differences between these two national samples in both their delegation behaviors and switching behaviors.