Abstract
Abstract
Purpose:
The current study seeks to explore the process of building and maintaining credibility within a particular organizational environment, within which employees increasingly depend on artificial intelligence (AI) and algorithmic systems as primary determinants of judgment within their decision-making processes. As such, the use of algorithmic determinants is likely to challenge existing concepts of leadership authority, based on their level of expertise and their position within the organizational hierarchy.
Design/methodology/approach:
The research study adopts a qualitative research design, with an interpretivist paradigm guiding the research. An inductive research analysis was employed in this study. Data collection was carried out through semi-structured interviews with twenty participants in organizations where algorithmic or AI-based decision support systems are actively integrated into managerial processes. An inductive research analysis was employed in this study.
Findings:
The findings indicate that, within AI-enabled environments, leadership credibility is now constructed along relational and interpretive lines, rather than solely along technical lines. Leaders will, it is expected, interpret algorithmic outputs, contextualize automated recommendations, and provide ethical oversight when human outcomes depend on computational processes. Trust in algorithmic systems is now combined with anticipations of human moral judgment, creating complex trust relations that fundamentally reconfigure the basis of leadership credibility.
Originality/value:
This study adds to the developing body of literature on leadership in digitally mediated organizations by developing the concept of credibility as a socially constructed outcome resulting from the interactions between leaders, employees, and algorithmic systems. This research extends the theories of trust and leadership by focusing on the role of leadership in hybrid human-AI decision-making configurations.