The hidden facets of artificial intelligence: delivery employees’ insights into service sabotage

Purpose This study provides an in-depth analysis of how AI impacts the service sabotage of delivery employees and explores the role of emotional exhaustion and psychological contract perception in this process. Design/methodology/approach Based on the SOR model, to explore how the introduction of unmanned delivery affects employee service disruption in logistics and distribution, and to test and analyze it using structural equation modeling. Findings Our findings reveal a strong positive correlation between AI awareness and service sabotage. Furthermore, our analysis reveals a significant indirect effect exerted by emotional exhaustion and psychological contract perception between AI awareness and service sabotage. Finally, age is a more prominent factor influencing how AI awareness translates to service sabotage. Practical implications Enterprises should pay close attention to the psychological state and reaction of employees when introducing new technologies. Companies should prioritize emotional management and mental health support for employees to help them better cope with work challenges and stress. Enterprises can provide diverse training courses to enhance employees' knowledge of AI to alleviate their fear and uncertainty of AI technology. Originality/value Taking the express delivery industry as an example, we study the impact of the introduction of unmanned delivery technology on employee behavior and explore the process mechanism in the work results triggered by AI awareness, deepening the research related to AI awareness and employee service disruptive behavior. Combining the resource preservation theory with the S-O-R theory provides new methods and perspectives for exploring the mechanisms of employee behavioral responses.