Will potential threats persist? Attitudes and behavioral responses of creative professionals toward GenAI

Introduction. Generative AI brings significant benefits to various fields but also poses potential disruptions to creative work. Empirical research is needed on how creative professionals perceive the impact of GenAI on content creation and how they can overcome stress-related barriers to better use GenAI in their work. Method. This exploratory study recruited 18 creative workers with varying experiences in using GenAI to identify their perceived value, attitudes, and behavioral responses to GenAI in their work environment. Analysis. Thematic analysis, supported by a coding scheme that includes horizontal coding and meaning clustering, was used to analyse the interview data. Results. The findings indicate that creative workers’ attitudes toward GenAI evolve based on their actual usage experiences, with different value perceptions, attitudinal and behavioral responses — both negative (e.g., technostress, co- rumination, misrepresentative interactions) and positive (e.g., work autonomy, reshaped creative role) — emerging during the initial exposure, adoption, and adaptation phases. In addition, some contextual factors, such as individual traits, organizational support, and social influence, also play key roles in this process. Conclusions. The research contribution is to provide insights for various stakeholders and to challenge the ‘either/or’ debate of previous research by highlighting the process of self-adaptation of creative professionals to GenAI.