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Paper Type
ERF
Abstract
We examine how firms' AI skill adoption aligns with competitors' choices and how this alignment influences their ability to attract capital investment. We propose a novel firm-level herding measure constructed from employee AI skills observed in Revelio Labs workforce profile data, capturing the degree to which firms follow peers in accumulating AI talent. We find that when AI herding is coupled with absorptive capacity, firms attract approximately $630 thousand more in capital investment. To our knowledge, this is the first study to link AI skill herding to firms' capital investment outcomes, demonstrating that the returns to imitation depend critically on the firm's ability to acquire and assimilate external AI knowledge.
Paper Number
1344
Recommended Citation
Godoy, Pedro; Zhong, Hao; Liu, Yuanyang; and Liu, Chuanren, "Herding Toward AI: How following the trend affects firm investments?" (2026). AMCIS 2026 Proceedings. 8.
https://aisel.aisnet.org/amcis2026/sigadit/sigadit/8
Herding Toward AI: How following the trend affects firm investments?
We examine how firms' AI skill adoption aligns with competitors' choices and how this alignment influences their ability to attract capital investment. We propose a novel firm-level herding measure constructed from employee AI skills observed in Revelio Labs workforce profile data, capturing the degree to which firms follow peers in accumulating AI talent. We find that when AI herding is coupled with absorptive capacity, firms attract approximately $630 thousand more in capital investment. To our knowledge, this is the first study to link AI skill herding to firms' capital investment outcomes, demonstrating that the returns to imitation depend critically on the firm's ability to acquire and assimilate external AI knowledge.
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