AI in the Workplace: The Impact of AI on Perceived Job Decency and Meaningfulness

2026-05-27

AI Summary

This study investigates the differential impacts of artificial intelligence (AI) adoption on employees’ perceptions of job decency—such as working hours—and sense of meaningfulness—such as social image—and how these dimensions jointly influence job satisfaction. Drawing on semi-structured in-depth interviews with 24 employees across the information technology, service, and healthcare sectors, the research employs a qualitative cross-industry comparative analysis. It offers the first systematic evidence that AI exerts dual, divergent effects on work experience: IT and healthcare professionals anticipate improved working hours but diminished social image due to AI integration, whereas service-sector workers expect enhanced social status without corresponding gains in working time. Consequently, changes in overall job satisfaction exhibit pronounced inter-industry variation, underscoring the context-dependent nature of AI’s implications for workplace well-being.

Abstract

The proliferation of Artificial Intelligence (AI) in workplaces is transforming how we work. While existing research on human-AI collaboration at work often prioritizes performance, less is known about their experiential outcomes. Through interviews with 24 employees across Information Technology (IT), service-based, and healthcare sectors, this paper examines AI's impact on job satisfaction via perceptions of job decency and meaningfulness, now and in the future. Our results reveal that the anticipated impact of AI on overall job satisfaction varies with the occupational domain, with differing perceptions of its underlying decency and meaningfulness. For instance, IT and healthcare anticipate increased satisfaction with decency aspects like working hours but decreased satisfaction with meaningfulness aspects like social image due to misconceptions about AI handling most of their tasks. Conversely, service workers foresee no improvement in their working hours but a higher social standing due to the perceived status boost associated with working with AI.

Problem

• Artificial Intelligence
• Job Decency
• Meaningfulness
• Workplace
• Job Satisfaction

Innovation

• job decency
• meaningfulness
• human-AI collaboration
• occupational domain
• experiential outcomes