Anthropomorphizing Artificial Intelligence for Better Job-Fit

This paper investigates the impact of interacting with chatbots and intelligent employee assistants (IEA). Employees relying on these technologies to complete tasks may become more productive at the cost of decreased social interactions. The literature demonstrates that social relationships are necessary and employees who are spending a significant amount of time working alone may experience psychological issues. Chatbots and IEAs may learn how to interact with employees in a way that alleviates isolation by conveying humanlike characteristics such as expressing empathy or friendliness. This paper reflects on employees anthropomorphizing chatbots and IEAs and suggests a research model to study the “machine touch” of artificial intelligence. This paper investigates how using chatbots and IEAs may lead to outcomes such as job satisfaction and increased work performance