Transformational leadership and employee AI usage: the role of perceived organizational support and competitive workplace climate

Introduction Artificial intelligence (AI) has become integral to organizational transformation and daily management, making employee AI usage (AI-U) an increasingly prevalent phenomenon. However, despite its growing importance, little is known about how leadership and contextual factors shape employees’ usage of AI. Methods Based on social cognitive theory, this study investigates the mediating role of perceived organizational support (POS) and the moderating effect of competitive workplace climate (CWC) in the relationship between transformational leadership (TL) and employee AI-U. Data were collected from 525 employees in China through an online survey and analyzed using hierarchical regression analysis and bootstrap methods. Results The results revealed that TL positively predicts employee AI-U, and that POS partially mediates this relationship. Moreover, CWC significantly moderates the indirect effect, such that the mediating effect of POS is weakened in a high-level CWC. Discussion These findings enrich the understanding of AI adoption from a social cognitive perspective and offer practical insights for fostering supportive organizational conditions conducive to AI application.