Reflection or Dependence: How AI Awareness Affects Employees’ In-Role and Extra-Role Performance?

To address the challenges posed by AI technologies, an increasing number of organizations encourage or require employees to integrate AI into their work processes. Despite the extensive research that has explored AI applications in the workplace, limited attention has been paid to the role of AI awareness in shaping employees’ cognition, interaction behaviors with AI, and subsequent impacts. Drawing on self-construal theory, this study investigates how AI awareness influences employees’ in-role and extra-role performance. A multi-time-point analysis of data from 353 questionnaires reveals that employees’ AI awareness affects their perceived overqualification, which subsequently influences reflection on AI usage and dependence on AI usage, ultimately shaping their in-role and extra-role performance. Furthermore, employee–AI collaboration moderates the relationship between AI awareness and perceived overqualification. This study elucidates the mechanisms and boundary conditions through which AI awareness impacts employees’ performance, offering a more comprehensive perspective on AI awareness research and providing practical implications for promoting its positive effects while mitigating its negative consequences.