Activating empowerment through AI-guided reflection: the role of authentic leadership cues in a randomized controlled experiment

Effective employee empowerment in digital workplaces necessitates reflective interventions that are psychologically grounded and scalable. Leadership related cues can activate cognitive schemas, thereby influencing individuals’ interpretations of subsequent experiences. However, limited research has explored the interaction between such cues and AI-guided reflection. This study investigates the effects of exposure to authenticity-related leadership cues, employed as a priming stimulus, in conjunction with chatbot-guided reflection chatbots on psychological empowerment narratives and mental well-being. A randomized controlled trial was conducted with 53 Indonesian employees, who were assigned to either a high-authenticity priming condition (EG-1), a low-authenticity priming condition (EG-2), or chatbot-only control condition (CC). After video-based priming, all participants engaged in structured chatbot reflections across four empowerment dimensions: meaning, competence, self-determination, and impact. Quantitative well-being outcomes and qualitative narrative patterns were examined using a mixed method approach. Participants in EG-1 showed significantly greater improvements in well-being (e.g., workplace well-being + 4.50, d = 1.89; general well-being + 3.88, d = 1.58), while EG-2 exhibited declines. Qualitative analysis revealed that reflections in the EG-1 were more self-attributed, emotionally elaborated, and meaning-oriented, in contrast to the more externally anchored or affectively neutral narratives observed in the EG-2 and CC. The findings indicate that authenticity-related leadership cues serve as psychological prime, shaping the interpretive context of AI-guided reflection. Reflective chatbot offers a psychologically safe medium for narrative sensemaking. This combination presents a context-sensitive strategy for fostering empowerment and well-being in collectivist and high power-distance workplace environments.