Publication Details
Abstract
As artificial intelligence (AI) continues to transform service delivery across sectors, the Indian retail industry faces growing pressure to integrate AI-driven systems into customer-facing operations. While such integration offers potential efficiencies, its impact on frontline employees remains complex and dual-faceted. Anchored in the Transactional Stress Theory, this research explores how AI-Enabled Process Transformation (AIEPT) influences Volitional Customer Service Initiative (VCSI) among retail employees in the Delhi NCR region of India.
Specifically, the study explores how employees cognitively appraise AI integration—either as a Perceived Growth Appraisal (PGA) or a Perceived Obstructive Appraisal (POA)—and how these appraisals shape downstream outcomes through Workplace Vitality and Learning (WVL) and Perceived Employment Instability (PEI), respectively.
Furthermore, this study investigates the influence of Technology Self-Efficacy (TSE) as a moderating factor in determining how employees cognitively appraise AI-enabled process transformation. Specifically, TSE is proposed to amplify the relationship between AIEPT and Perceived Growth Appraisal (PGA) while dampening the association between AIEPT and Perceived Obstructive Appraisal (POA). In addition, Perceived Institutional Support Climate (PISC) is expected to buffer the negative effects of POA and strengthen the positive influence of PGA, whereas Adaptive Psychological Capacity (APC) is theorized to mitigate the impact of POA on Perceived Employment Instability (PEI).
This study employs a time-lagged survey approach and gathers data from frontline employees working in AI-adopting retail firms within the Delhi NCR region. The proposed relationships are examined using Partial Least Squares Structural Equation Modeling (PLS-SEM). Findings are expected to offer critical insights for both theory and practice—clarifying the psychological mechanisms the process by which AI adoption bears upon employees-driven service behavior and identifying organizational levers to mitigate its negative effects while amplifying positive outcomes.