The dark side of GenAI in the workplace: technostress, loneliness, and the buffering role of transformational leadership

Generative artificial intelligence (GenAI) is transforming the workplace, but it also introduces technostress that affects employees’ psychological states and behavioral consequences. However, existing research has yet to offer an integrated framework that explicates the socio-emotional processes and work outcomes of GenAI integration, along with the boundary conditions that moderate these relationships. To bridge this gap, this study integrates the Stressor-Strain-Outcome (SSO) framework and the Conservation of Resources (COR) theory to examine how GenAI-induced technostress influences work loneliness and work effort. Using survey data from 290 public school teachers in Taiwan, this study finds that GenAI-induced technostress is negatively associated with work effort indirectly through work loneliness, whereas its direct effect is not statistically significant. Moreover, transformational leadership weakens the negative relationship between work loneliness and work effort; however, it does not significantly moderate the GenAI-induced technostress-work loneliness link nor the overall moderated mediation effect. This study contributes to the literature by proposing a technostress-work loneliness-work effort pathway from a resource depletion perspective, and by elucidating the boundary conditions under which transformational leadership, as a critical resource buffer, functions in this mechanism in the context of GenAI-driven work environments. From a practical standpoint, these findings offer actionable insights for organizations seeking to foster sustainable GenAI integration while safeguarding employee well-being.