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Artificial intelligence (AI) appears both interesting and ubiquitous in modern life. AI has been applied to marketing strategies, energy savings, weather forecasting, risk analysis, customer services, education, and business solutions (Brown, Ling & Gurdeniz, 2017; Jaiswal & Arun, 2021; Tuli, Gill, Xu et al., 2022). AI processes smart technology, assisting both entrepreneurs and organizations in delivering better-quality service and more efficient performance (Chang, Abdalla & Lasyoud, 2021; Smith & Anderson, 2014; Haefnera, Wincenta, Parida, & Gassmann, 2021). Recently, AI has started to show its influence in the field of employee management; for instance, managers have improved employee performance through AI-driven techniques such as performance-tracking and KPI-monitoring software (Ernst & Young, 2018; Vrontis, Christofi, Pereira et al., 2021). Different from the conventional approach that focuses on target achievement, AI-Driven Management (AI-M) adopts a more holistic and interactive approach, enabling both managers and subordinates to monitor the performance progress more effectively, from the initial goal-setting stage to the final completion stage (Chang, 2020; Gonzales, Capman, Oswald et al., 2019). Businesses and enterprises also adopt big data in their employee management practices with the view that AI offers better insights into how to execute and operate in performance appraisal, staff recruitment, succession planning, and performance management (Pan, Froese, Liu et al., 2021; Wang, Wang & Huang, 2017). Inspired by the aforementioned AI studies, we are intrigued to know whether AI affects employees, and if so, how.
In the current research, we focus on the emotions of employees, with the following rationale: On the one hand, emotion is a subjective and conscious experience that is characterized by psycho-physiological expressions, biological reactions, and mental states (Kleinginna & Kleinginna, 1981; Lazarus, 1991). Emotion is reciprocally influential with mood, temperament, personality, disposition, and motivation (Ortony et al., 1988; Pankseep, 2005). More specifically, negative emotion refers to an affective state that is characterized by physiological and neuro-hormonal changes arising from a challenging situation, leading to feelings of stress, anxiety, anger, loss, disappointment, and sadness (Lampert & Phelps, 2013; Lazarus, 1998). Negative emotion is contagious and detrimental, causing various behavioral and physiological outcomes (Goleman, Boyatzis, & McKee, 2002). Although different in nature, previous research has implied that emotions are crucial to individuals and affect their lives.