Are HR professionals insecure? AI, job insecurity and the re-wiring of workplace learning

Purpose The expediting adoption of artificial intelligence (AI) across organizations is fundamentally reconfiguring human resource management functions, raising substantive questions about the psychological experience of the HR professionals who perform them. Building on conservation of resources theory, this study aims to explore how HR professionals experience and interpret AI-driven changes to their roles, how these changes shape perceptions of job insecurity and whether workplace learning helps in mitigating these effects. Design/methodology/approach A qualitative research design was adopted, based on semi-structured interviews with HR professionals. The interview data were analyzed thematically to identify recurring patterns and themes. Findings Findings reveal that HR professionals experience AI-driven role changes as incremental and task-restructuring, broadly interpreting AI as a complementary tool that redistributes work toward more strategic and relational responsibilities. These changes nonetheless generate job insecurity that manifests predominantly in qualitative form, expressed as uncertainty over evolving role expectations, instead of an immediate fear of job loss. The perceived irreducibility of human judgment and relational expertise emerged as a stabilizing identity resource, while engagement in workplace learning, particularly through self-directed strategies, functioned as the primary mechanism through which participants restored professional agency, rebuilt adaptive capacity, and in some cases reframed AI disruption as an opportunity for career development rather than a threat to occupational continuity. Research limitations/implications This study presents several limitations that should be acknowledged. First, we used a qualitative design, which enabled the collection of rich and contextually grounded insights but limited the generalizability of the findings. The interpretations are based on a relatively small sample and reflect subjective accounts, which may not capture the full diversity of experience across the broader HR population. Second, the inclusion of participants from different sectors introduces variability in organizational practices and levels of AI adoption. While this enhances the breadth of perspectives, it may also reduce comparability, as sector-specific dynamics can shape how GenAI is experienced and interpreted. Third, the data were collected in 2025 and adopt a cross-sectional design. Given the rapid evolution of AI technologies, future research could adopt longitudinal designs to examine how HR roles, job insecurity perceptions, and learning behaviors evolve as AI becomes more deeply embedded in organizational practices. Further, future research could advance this line of inquiry by quantitatively measuring workplace learning as a mediating or moderating mechanism of job insecurity during technological transitions. Originality/value The novelty of this study lies in shifting the literature’s focus toward the subjective experience of job insecurity among insiders (HR professionals), offering a psychologically grounded perspective on how such insecurity is interpreted and managed through adaptive strategies, particularly workplace learning. Contextually, it provides rare empirical evidence from the Gulf region, extending the predominantly Western scope of research on AI.