Strengthening the Bonds Between Us: An Empirical Investigation of Morale in Human-AI Teams and the Socially Supportive AI Teammates Who Empower it

This dissertation investigates how artificial intelligence (AI) can be designed to improve the collective emotion within a team. A team's collective emotion, or morale, describes how motivated, optimistic, and enthusiastic the group is in accomplishing its goals. We conducted four studies that compared different social support strategies that AI teammates can provide to the team. Study 1A found that AI teammates who communicate with emotions can better motivate human team members and promote awareness of team dynamics and environmental changes. Study 1B found that human teammates become more motivated and happier when their AI teammates express joy and are close in proximity to give help when needed. Study 2 saw HAT morale benefit when AI teammates boosted their human teammates' self-esteem by reminding them of their talents and skills. Study 3 found that human teammates prefer their AI-enabled robotic teammates to be equipped with certain human-like features. For instance, having a realistic voice or maintaining eye contact when having a conversation. But the appearance should still resemble a robot. Also, it should understand when to give their human teammates space, such as when humans are dealing with stressful news. Together, these studies decipher how AI teammates can be designed to support their human teammates' emotional state of mind when working together to achieve a goal.