Perceived Generative AI Complementarity in Relation to Job Engagement and Job Embeddedness: The Mediating Roles of Psychological Empowerment and Psychological Safety

Abstract

Generative AI is increasingly embedded in knowledge work, yet employees may interpret the same technology either as a resource that extends their capabilities or as a threat involving replacement or monitoring. The psychological pathways linking this interpretation to job engagement and job embeddedness remain underexplored. Drawing on job demands–resources theory, this study positions perceived generative AI complementarity as a technology-based job resource and examines whether it is associated with job engagement and embeddedness through psychological empowerment and psychological safety. Data were collected through a cross-sectional online survey of 428 employees of digital platform service organizations in South Korea. A latent-variable structural equation model was used to evaluate the measurement model and all hypothesized associations, and path-specific indirect associations were tested using bias-corrected bootstrap resampling. Perceived generative AI complementarity was positively associated with both psychological resources, and both resources were positively associated with job engagement and job embeddedness. All four indirect associations were supported, whereas neither residual direct association was distinguishable from zero once measurement error was modeled; the two pathways did not differ significantly in magnitude. Because the data are cross-sectional, single-source, and self-reported, the findings describe associations consistent with the proposed model rather than causal effects.