Can’t Stop the Feeling: Influence of Incidental Emotions on Manager’s Willingness to Delegate to AI

Abstract

Artificial Intelligence (AI) based technologies provide manifold opportunities to augment managerial decision-making. Managers can delegate decisions to the increasingly available and capable AI-enabled decision-making systems. This study looks into the managerial willingness to do so with a particular emphasis on the influence of emotions on the manager’s choice to hand over strategic decisions to AI. Prior research has shown that both cognitive and emotional aspects influence decision-making. Furthermore, we know that emotions induced by technology influence a system’s adoption and use. However, despite the acknowledged relevance of emotions, prior research has not yet emphasised the impact of incidental emotions – emotions triggered by events unrelated to the decision or the AI-enabled system use – on decision-making and delegation. Using an experimental research design enhanced by data collected through cognitive neuroscience methods, we analyse the impact of positive, incidental emotions and their states valence and arousal on a manager’s willingness to delegate a strategic decision to an AI-enabled system. The findings reveal that positive incidental emotions, as well as high values of valence, positively impact a managers willingness to delegate strategic decisions to an AI-enabled system. The paper concludes by discussing the study’s implications for technology adoption and managerial decision delegation by highlighting the relevance of emotional factors in managers’ adoption of AI and the additional value of neuroscientific data.