Artificial Intelligence in Managerial Decisions: Understanding Perceived Responsibility and Willingness to Accept Recommendations

The paper focuses on understanding the perceived responsibility of marketing managers, and how Artificial Intelligence (AI) influences the acceptance of recommendations during the managerial decision process. AI’s impact is compared to the influence of human advice. Two experiments differentiate AI-based vs. human recommendations: The first study extends prior research on managerial decision making by showing that managers, who feel highly responsible for decisions, are less likely to accept recommendations in general. Interestingly, this effect differs between the source of recommendation. Managers tend to accept an algorithmic recommendation less when their perceived responsibility is high. In contrast, human recommendations do not differ by the degree of responsibility. The second study analyzes this moderation effect by including sense of ownership as mediator. Results show a significant indirect interaction between perceived responsibility and managers’ willingness to accept a recommendation through sense of ownership and source of recommendation. Overall, these findings contribute to understanding the psychological mechanism underlying the individual perception of responsibility and the acceptance of AI-derived recommendations. Thus, this paper offers valuable insights into improving AI acceptance.