Finding a fit between CXO’s experience and AI usage in CXO decision-making: evidence from knowledge-intensive professional service firms

Abstract

PurposeArtificial intelligence (AI) applications’ usage in Chief Officers’ (CXOs’) decision-making is a topic of current research interest. A fundamental dilemma is carefully planning an effective combination of a CXO’s professional experiences and AI applications’ decision-making responsibility. However, the existing literature fails to specify the value of co-creation of AI applications and the human experience in managerial decision-making. To address this gap in the literature, the authors’ examine how an ideal cognitive-technology fit can be created between human experiences and AI-based solutions at CXO-level decision-making using the theoretical lens of the Service-Dominant Logic.Design/methodology/approachThe authors’ employed a grounded theory approach and conducted a focus group discussion with seven participants to shed light on the factors that may balance AI applications’ usage and CXOs’ experience in making business decisions. This was followed by 21 in-depth interviews with employees from knowledge-intensive professional service firms to validate the findings further of a new phenomenon. Further, given the newness of the phenomenon, this approach allowed researchers a retrospective and real-time understanding of interviewees’ experiences of the phenomenon under consideration.FindingsThe advantages and constraints of both CXOs’ experiences and AI applications deserve due consideration for successfully implementing technology in knowledge-intensive professional service organizations.Research limitations/implicationsThis study may appeal to researchers and practitioners interested in the future of decision-making, as the authors’ study findings advocate for balancing CXO’s expertise and the use of AI in decision-making.Originality/valueBased on the preliminary findings, the authors developed a theoretical framework to understand the factors that govern AI implementation in an organization and how a competitive strategy may emerge from value co-created by AI applications and CXOs’ experience, particularly in knowledge-intensive professional service firms.

Guest editorial: Emerging digital technologies and professional services: current and future research agenda

“…In the next paper, Kondapaka et al . (2023), use service-dominant logic to explore the creation of an ideal cognitive-technology fit between human experiences and AI-based solutions for more effective decision-making at CXO level.…”

“…The eight papers published in this special issue adopt diverse theoretical and managerial perspectives along with a broad range of methodologies. Based on their approaches and contributions, we have classified these eight papers into three broad themes, namely (1) Diverse theoretical perspectives , including strategic agility perspective (Liu et al ., 2023), theory of resources and capabilities (Marino-Romero et al ., 2023) and a multidisciplinary perspective (Panda et al ., 2023); (2) Challenges in digitalization process , for professional legal firms (Kronblad et al ., 2023) and small professional services firms (Cardinali et al ., 2023) and (3) Practical applications of digitalization: the role of transformational leadership and technology-mediated knowledge sharing (TMKS) (Nguyen, 2023), AI usage in CXO decision-making (Kondapaka et al ., 2023) and the use of computerized text analysis to predict customers' evaluation of their service experience (Ferreira et al ., 2023). Next, we briefly describe all the eight papers under these three broad themes in this section, followed by a general discussion and recommendations for future research.…”

“…In the next paper, Kondapaka et al (2023), use service-dominant logic to explore the creation of an ideal cognitive-technology fit between human experiences and AI-based solutions for more effective decision-making at CXO level. The authors follow a grounded theory approach using a focus group discussion with seven participants from PSFs to discover factors that may influence AI applications' usage and CXOs' experience in making business decisions, followed by 21 in-depth interviews with employees from knowledgeintensive PSFs.…”

“…For example, Nguyen (2023) uses an online survey of professional service firm employees in Vietnam to explore the impact of transformational leadership on TMKS, which is moderated by perceived usefulness and gender and leads to organizational innovation as the final outcome. Similarly, Kondapaka et al (2023) use a focus group discussion with participants from PSFs followed by in-depth interviews with employees from knowledgeintensive PSFs in Sweden to explore the combined influence of artificial intelligence applications' usage and CXOs' experience in making business decisions. Finally, Ferreira et al (2023) use three empirical studies to illustrate the use of computerized text analysis to interpret unstructured data by professional service providers, such as advertising and market research firms.…”

Towards Data-Driven Decision-Making in the Korean Film Industry: An XAI Model for Box Office Analysis Using Dimension Reduction, Clustering, and Classification

“…In many industries, people and organizations seek efficient and effective ways of processing and analyzing large volumes of data to support their decision-making efforts [ 4 , 5 , 6 , 7 ]. Traditional decision-making methods, which rely on personal knowledge, experience, and wisdom, are limited in dealing with big data effectively and are prone to bias and errors [ 8 , 9 ]. DDDM uses models and algorithms to process and analyze data sources for reliable decision support [ 10 , 11 ].…”