AI Awareness and Digital Innovativeness: The Mediating Role of AI Crafting and the Moderating Roles of Digital Leadership and AI Self-Efficacy

As artificial intelligence (AI) increasingly reshapes how organizations operate, innovate, and compete, employees face increasing pressure to adapt to rapidly evolving digital work environments. However, whether employees translate AI-related awareness into innovative outcomes may depend not only on their proactive adaptation behaviors but also on contextual and individual conditions. Drawing on the job demand-resource theory and social cognitive theory, this study develops and tests a moderated mediation model in which AI crafting mediates the relationship between AI awareness and digital innovativeness, whereas perceived digital leadership and AI self-efficacy serve as contextual and individual boundary conditions, respectively. Using single-wave, single-source data collected from 606 employees in China’s IT and manufacturing industries, the results indicate that AI awareness is positively associated with digital innovativeness through AI crafting. Moreover, perceived digital leadership and AI self-efficacy strengthen the positive associations between AI awareness and AI crafting and between AI awareness and digital innovativeness. These findings extend research on AI awareness by examining how employees’ awareness of AI-related changes is associated with digital innovativeness through proactive work adjustment and by highlighting the complementary roles of perceived contextual support and individual capability beliefs.