Linking artificial intelligence (AI) with employees’ work behaviors

Although artificial intelligence (AI) is widely used in service management, its effect on employees remains unclear. This study focuses on employees’ intentional use of AI (e.g. employing automated workflow systems) rather than on unintentional experiences, such as platform recommendations. Anchored in the conservation of resources theory and social comparison theory, a dual-path framework is proposed to examine how AI usage affects employees’ work behaviors through job crafting and psychological distress, with competitive psychological climate (CPC) as a moderator. A three-wave questionnaire survey yielded 320 complete responses from employees at 20 AI-adopting service companies. The results showed that: (1) AI usage promoted job crafting, enhancing service innovative behavior and reducing service sabotage behavior; (2) AI usage triggered psychological distress, increasing service sabotage behavior and decreasing service innovative behavior; and (3) CPC moderated these effects. This study offers insights into managing AI in service contexts and outlines future research directions.