The effects of newcomers' AI use on organizational identification: the mediating role of newcomer adjustment

Purpose – While prior research has predominantly emphasized the performance-enhancing benefits of artificial intelligence (AI) use, it has paid limited attention to its potential cost on newcomers' organizational socialization process. Drawing on organizational socialization theory, this study develops a mediation model to examine how newcomers' AI use influences their organizational identification through newcomer adjustment. Methods – We collected two-wave survey data from 200 newcomers over a one-month interval. Path analysis and bootstrap analyses were conducted to test the proposed theoretical model. Results – The results showed that newcomers' AI use was negatively related to newcomer adjustment. In turn, newcomer adjustment was positively related to organizational identification. Furthermore, newcomer adjustment mediated the negative relationship between newcomers' AI use and organizational identification. Discussion – This study extends understanding of AI in the workplace by demonstrating that its consequences are not uniformly beneficial and by revealing how AI use may shape newcomers' early organizational experiences and psychological attachment.