To Do or Not to Do: Unravelling Employee Intention to Work in AI Driven Hybrid Environment

Abstract

: Industry 4.0 is leading to an era where humans and collaborative robots (Cobots) will work in close proximity to create the hybrid workforce. Although firms are carefully considering this transition, implementation of Cobots is often carried out without careful consideration of employee’s motivation and behavior who will be working in hybrid workplace. If employees do not understand their work with Cobots, it is unlikely to bring value to a firm in the dynamic business environment. Thus, our study aims to investigate the synergies between employee’s creativity and behavior in hybrid workplace. We develop a model for hybrid workplace based on the componential theory of individual creativity and the valence theory that combines human workers behaviors and Cobots dimensions together. Our empirical analysis confirms most of the hypothesis about employee’s creativity in hybrid workplace and positive valence of Cobots, proving that future human-Cobots collaboration needs to focus not only on benefits that Cobots brings but also on human aspects like skills and expertise. This paper contributes to body of knowledge by shedding light on the human and Cobots dimensions together and it serves as a foundation for future application and research for hybrid work.