Abstract

Effective knowledge management is crucial for organizations to accomplish complex tasks, drive innovation, and sustain competitive advantage. However, technological disruptions, especially the rapid adoption of artificial intelligence (AI), continue to reshape knowledge processes and employee behavior. As AI becomes more capable and prevalent, employees increasingly perceive it as a threat to their job security and professional relevance. In such an environment, knowledge becomes a critical source of leverage, and counterproductive knowledge behaviors can intensify as employees attempt to navigate through the shifting dynamics. Based on this discussion, our Work-in-Progress paper develops a power-based theoretical model to explain how AI shapes employees’ power perceptions, thus their counterproductive knowledge behaviors. We focus specifically on two behaviors: knowledge hiding and disengagement from knowledge sharing. Drawing on French and Raven’s (1959) foundational conceptualization of social power and the psychological mechanisms outlined in the Approach–Inhibition Theory of Power (Keltner, Gruenfeld, & Anderson, 2003), we explore how employees’ perceptions of power, in the context of organizational AI adoption, influence their intentional withholding of knowledge or psychologically withdrawing from knowledge exchange. Our theorization provides a foundation for understanding how AI transforms power relations and knowledge behaviors, offering potential future research examining counterproductive knowledge behaviors in AI-driven workplaces.

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