Accepting the Familiar: The Effect of Perceived Similarity with AI Agents on Intention to Use and the Mediating Effect of IT Identity

With the rise and integration of AI technologies within organizations, our understanding of the impact of this technology on individuals remains limited. Although the IS use literature provides important guidance for organization to increase employees’ willingness to work with new technology, the utilitarian view of prior IS use research limits its application considering the new evolving social interaction between humans and AI agents. We contribute to the IS use literature by implementing a social view to understand the impact of AI agents on an individual’s perception and behavior. By focusing on the main design dimensions of AI agents, we propose a framework that utilizes social psychology theories to explain the impact of those design dimensions on individuals. Specifically, we build on Similarity Attraction Theory to propose an AI similarity-continuance model that aims to explain how similarity with AI agents influence individuals’ IT identity and intention to continue working with it. Through an online brainstorming experiment, we found that similarity with AI agents indeed has a positive impact on IT identity and on the intention to continue working with the AI agent.