How task-AI fit influences hotel employees’ job crafting and self-esteem threat: The moderating effect of leader AI crafting

The rapid integration of artificial intelligence (AI) in the hospitality industry has created a pressing need to understand its impact on employee behavior and performance. This study examines how task-AI fit influences hotel employees' job crafting and self-esteem threat, and how these factors mediate the relationship between task-AI fit and task performance. Additionally, it explores the moderating role of leader AI crafting. Drawing on self-regulation theory and social learning theory, we conducted an experience-sampling field study with employees from 13 luxury hotels in Orlando, Florida, a destination with a well-established AI-integrated hotel sector. Findings from this study found that task-AI fit positively relates to both job crafting and self-esteem threat. Additionally, there was a positive indirect effect of task-AI fit on task performance through job crafting. While leader AI crafting was not found to moderate the relationship between task-AI fit and self-esteem threat, it was found to strengthen the positive relationship between task-AI fit and job crafting. This suggests that while leaders' AI-crafting can encourage proactive job crafting, mitigating self-esteem threat may require additional organizational support. These results contribute to organizational behavior and human–machine collaboration theories by illustrating task-AI fit's dual psychological effects and the role of leadership in AI integration. Practically, managers should enhance employees' AI-related skills to mitigate self-esteem threats and encourage leaders to model effective AI use. By addressing both the opportunities and challenges of AI, organizations can foster productive and psychologically supportive environments in the luxury hospitality industry. Because the sample was drawn primarily from luxury hotels, the generalizability of the findings to other hotel segments may be limited.