Paper Number
ICIS2026-1870
Paper Type
Completed
Abstract
Generative artificial intelligence (GAI) is changing the role of knowledge workers, with implications for professional identity. While identity threats can emerge internally, professional identity is also socially constructed. To examine how GAI shapes identity through social evaluations, we draw on identity threat theory and study journalism, a profession dependent on audience judgments. We conducted an experiment in which participants were assigned to one of four GAI-enabled work practices defined by agency (automation vs. augmentation) and task centrality (core vs. peripheral), or to a control condition (no GAI). Participants read a scenario describing a fictitious news organization’s use of GAI and a standardized news article, then evaluated the organization, the journalist, and the article. Results indicate that automating core journalistic tasks is associated with higher audience-driven identity threats, and that GAI use elicits greater identity threats than manual work, irrespective of agency or task centrality.
Recommended Citation
Demazure, Theophile and Grenier Ouimet, Antoine, "Professional Identity Threats: Third-Party Appraisals of GAI-Enabled Knowledge Work" (2026). ICIS 2026 Proceedings. 12.
https://aisel.aisnet.org/icis2026/user_engage/user_engage/12
Professional Identity Threats: Third-Party Appraisals of GAI-Enabled Knowledge Work
Generative artificial intelligence (GAI) is changing the role of knowledge workers, with implications for professional identity. While identity threats can emerge internally, professional identity is also socially constructed. To examine how GAI shapes identity through social evaluations, we draw on identity threat theory and study journalism, a profession dependent on audience judgments. We conducted an experiment in which participants were assigned to one of four GAI-enabled work practices defined by agency (automation vs. augmentation) and task centrality (core vs. peripheral), or to a control condition (no GAI). Participants read a scenario describing a fictitious news organization’s use of GAI and a standardized news article, then evaluated the organization, the journalist, and the article. Results indicate that automating core journalistic tasks is associated with higher audience-driven identity threats, and that GAI use elicits greater identity threats than manual work, irrespective of agency or task centrality.
Comments
14_User_behavior