Exploring the impact of AI technostress on physicians’ job insecurity and performance from an empirical multi-hospital study

TL;DR

This study shows how AI-related stress affects doctors' job security and performance, highlighting self-esteem threats as a key factor.

Contribution

The paper introduces 'perceived self-esteem threat' as a new stressor in AI-related technostress for physicians.

Findings

AI self-esteem threat is the most influential source of technostress for physicians.

Job insecurity reduces job satisfaction but unexpectedly boosts self-rated performance.

AI reliability, complexity, and overload significantly increase job insecurity.

Abstract

This study expands Califf’s technostress model, which explores the psychological stress caused by technology, by integrating “perceived self-esteem threat” as a key stressor driven by the growing influence of medical artificial intelligence (AI), examining its impact on physicians’ job insecurity and performance. A survey of 400 physicians from three Taiwanese hospitals (92.4% response rate) revealed the nuanced effects of AI-related technostress. Structural equation modeling (SEM), a statistical method used to test relationships between variables, showed that complexity and technology overload significantly increase job insecurity, while AI reliability, unexpectedly, also heightens it. AI self-esteem threat emerged as the most influential source of technostress. Job insecurity negatively affects job satisfaction but unexpectedly boosts job performance, suggesting a motivational response to perceived threats. The expanded model explains 44.6% of the variance in psychological reactions to AI, underscoring the critical role of self-esteem threat in shaping physicians’ well-being and performance.

•Incorporating self-esteem threat into technostress reveals a new physician stressor•Multi-center survey (n = 400) links self-esteem threat with physicians’ job insecurity•AI reliability, complexity, and overload all show significant associations with job insecurity•Job insecurity reduces job satisfaction yet shows a positive link to self-rated performance

Incorporating self-esteem threat into technostress reveals a new physician stressor

Multi-center survey (n = 400) links self-esteem threat with physicians’ job insecurity

AI reliability, complexity, and overload all show significant associations with job insecurity

Job insecurity reduces job satisfaction yet shows a positive link to self-rated performance

Health sciences; Social sciences

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