Augmenting or eroding human capital? The paradoxical effects of mandatory artificial intelligence agent implementation on employee experience

Purpose This study investigates how mandatory artificial intelligence (AI) agent implementation, conceptualized as structural-capital deployment, paradoxically reconfigures human capital in cross-border e-commerce SMEs. Drawing on the intellectual capital (IC) literature and Job Demands–Resources (JD-R) theory as the micro-foundational lens, we examine the dual psychological pathways through which structural-capital investments translate into divergent human-capital outcomes. Design/methodology/approach A sequential multi-method design integrates a two-wave survey of 461 employees across China and Europe – analyzed via partial least squares structural equation modeling (PLS-SEM), the measurement invariance of composite models and multi-group analysis (MICOM/MGA), importance–performance map analysis (IPMA), and fuzzy-set qualitative comparative analysis (fsQCA) – with 45 semi-structured interviews (30 Chinese and 15 European) coded using Gioia et al.'s three-stage procedure. Mandatory AI use was verified through HR confirmation, policy-document audit, and self-report triangulation. Findings Mandatory AI simultaneously augments human capital via perceived task enablement and erodes it via perceived job insecurity, while exerting no direct effect on employee experience. Full measurement invariance and non-significant MGA results confirm cross-regional structural consistency; interviews revealed institutional boundary conditions affecting how the mandate is interpreted. Trustworthiness uncertainty operates predominantly configurationally rather than through simple linear moderation. Practical implications IPMA prioritizes managerial action: insecurity mitigation > trustworthiness calibration > enablement maintenance. Three profiles – Enablement-Dominant Adopters, Trust-Tested Power Users, and Mandate-Tolerant Stable Performers – translate fsQCA configurations into intervention-ready employee types. Originality/value The study supplies the micro-foundational mechanism missing from prior IC accounts, introduces perceived human capital development as a complementary IC-specific outcome and robustness check, and uncovers equifinal configurations through which compelled structural-capital deployment yields positive human-capital outcomes across institutional contexts.