The Impact of Using Generative Artificial Intelligence on Employee Creativity Evaluation

Liang Yuchang; He Gang; Jin Mengzi

doi:doi:10.16538/j.cnki.fem.20240901.101

Summary

As generative artificial intelligence (GenAI) technologies increasingly match human performance in cognitive tasks, their adoption in workplaces is growing. However, the social implications of GenAI usage in organizational contexts remain underexplored. Drawing on the attributional theory of creativity, this paper proposes a creativity bias against employees who use GenAI for creative tasks. It hypothesizes that coworkers perceive GenAI users as less creative, consequently reducing cooperation intention. To test this hypothesis, we conducted a vignette experiment across three creative tasks: software development, marketing copywriting, and visual design. The findings support the presence of an AI bias: GenAI diminishes key social evaluations of users, including perceived creativity, warmth, and honesty. Decreased perceived creativity mediates the negative effect of GenAI usage on coworkers’ cooperation intentions. To gain deeper insights, we conducted in-depth interviews exploring beliefs about GenAI’s impact on human creativity. The results reveal that GenAI affects three critical aspects of human creativity: domain-relevant knowledge and skills, creativity-relevant processes, and intrinsic task motivation. Further, it is found that individuals’ preference for collaborative partners is affected by their beliefs about the relationship between GenAI and human creativity. This paper contributes to the emerging research on the social consequences of GenAI usage in organizational settings and enhances our understanding on how GenAI affects perceptions of human creativity.