Paper Number
ICIS2025-2495
Paper Type
Complete
Abstract
As agentic systems become more intelligent and embedded in everyday life, traditional binary models of delegation—where users either retain or transfer control—may no longer fully reflect how people interact with such systems. This paper explores an alternative, multi-tiered perspective on delegation, proposing that individuals may prefer to delegate tasks to agentic IS in varying degrees rather than as an all-or-nothing decision. Drawing on a study with 272 participants evaluating 23 mundane scenarios, the findings indicate that partial delegation is the most frequently chosen option across use cases. While exploratory in scope, these results suggest that more flexible, graded models of delegation may better align with user preferences. This paper contributes to the emergent literature on human–agentic IS delegation and calls for a paradigm shift from binary to multi-tiered, gradual theorizing of delegation in human–system interaction.
Recommended Citation
Mihale-Wilson, Cristina A., "From Whether to How Much: A Multi-tiered Perspective on Delegation to Agentic IS" (2025). ICIS 2025 Proceedings. 32.
https://aisel.aisnet.org/icis2025/hti/hti/32
From Whether to How Much: A Multi-tiered Perspective on Delegation to Agentic IS
As agentic systems become more intelligent and embedded in everyday life, traditional binary models of delegation—where users either retain or transfer control—may no longer fully reflect how people interact with such systems. This paper explores an alternative, multi-tiered perspective on delegation, proposing that individuals may prefer to delegate tasks to agentic IS in varying degrees rather than as an all-or-nothing decision. Drawing on a study with 272 participants evaluating 23 mundane scenarios, the findings indicate that partial delegation is the most frequently chosen option across use cases. While exploratory in scope, these results suggest that more flexible, graded models of delegation may better align with user preferences. This paper contributes to the emergent literature on human–agentic IS delegation and calls for a paradigm shift from binary to multi-tiered, gradual theorizing of delegation in human–system interaction.
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