AI adoption, employee depression and knowledge: How corporate social responsibility buffers psychological impact

This study examines the psychological consequences of artificial intelligence (AI) adoption in organizational contexts, focusing on how it impacts employee depression via the mediating and moderating mechanisms of job insecurity and corporate social responsibility (CSR), respectively. Adopting the broader Stress Process paradigm and employing an integrated theoretical framework that encompasses conservation of resources theory, social identity theory, and job demands-resources theory, we develop and empirically validate a moderated mediation framework utilizing longitudinal data gathered during three temporal intervals from 403 workers employed in South Korean enterprises. The empirical evidence demonstrates that although AI adoption does not directly impact employee depression, it exerts substantial indirect effects through the mediating pathway of job insecurity. Additionally, the analysis shows that CSR functions as a critical organizational resource that moderates the association between AI adoption and job insecurity; specifically, conditions of elevated CSR attenuate this positive association. These findings enhance theoretical understanding of the psychological mechanisms underlying technological transformations in workplace settings and highlight the importance of strategic organizational initiatives in mitigating the mental health challenges associated with AI implementation. They also reveal actionable steps enterprises deploying AI technologies can take, highlighting the imperative of proactively managing workforce concerns regarding employment stability while sustaining robust CSR initiatives throughout periods of technological evolution.