HKUST Business Review

What did we find? Even when the AI and human managers in our studies made exactly the same decisions, workers trusted AI bosses much less than their human equivalents. And trust isn’t just a nice- to-have: Prior research has shown that employees who trust their managers report high job satisfaction, experience greater well- being, take fewer days off, feel a greater sense of organizational commitment, and are willing to put in more effort to go above and beyond for their organizations. Trust is Built on Ability, Integrity, and Benevolence So, why do people trust AI bosses less than human ones? Research suggests that trust is driven by three key factors: ability, integrity, and benevolence. When it comes to ability and integrity, AI managers have an undeniable advantage: AI systems are clearly able to coordinate pick-ups and drop-offs more efficiently than human dispatchers, and prior research indicates that employees are less concerned about algorithms being judgmental or using their data for unethical purposes, likely because they know these tools have been programmed to follow ethical guidelines (and won’t fall prey to human foibles such as greed, impatience, or Schadenfreude). But when it comes to the third piece of the trust puzzle—being perceived as benevolent—AI just doesn’t measure up. Benevolence refers to the quality of caring about others and having their best interests at heart. While AI systems can outperform humans in processing data at scale, enforcing rules consistently, and demonstrating unwavering integrity through algorithmic neutrality, they fundamentally lack the capacity for genuine emotions and empathy. In other words, ability and integrity are about what you do…but benevolence is about how you seem to feel while you’re doing it. Research shows that employees feel more psychologically safe and more committed to their organizations when their managers demonstrate that they care by authentically expressing emotions such as satisfaction or pride. Similarly, studies have shown that if people appear happy when donating money, they are seen as more benevolent (even if the size of the donation is the same). Ultimately, how kind someone seems to us is deeply tied to our perception of how authentic their emotional experience is. Though AI has become remarkably adept at recognizing and even mimicking human emotions, this capability is fundamentally different from a genuine emotional experience. An AI boss may be able to recognize and replicate emotional cues, but as long as workers know that it’s AI, they will know that it lacks the lived experience and subjective feeling of emotions that is necessary to come across as benevolent. This distinction is crucial: Modern AI can convincingly simulate empathy, but it cannot genuinely feel it. As such, even if an algorithm perfectly mirrors human emotional expressions, Trust is driven by three key factors: ability, integrity, and benevolence. 5 HKUST Business Review