AI leader disclosure

As artificial intelligence (AI) increasingly occupies supervisory and leader roles in organizations, questions arise regarding how employees respond to AI leaders, particularly with respect to trust and job satisfaction. Although prior research has largely examined AI leadership at a conceptual level, little is known about how followers react when first encountering an AI leader. This study examines whether explicit AI leader disclosure fosters follower trust and, in turn, enhances follower job satisfaction. Drawing on social exchange theory, we employed an experimental vignette methodology with working adults who were randomly assigned to either an AI leader disclosure condition or a control condition. After reading the vignette, participants completed established and adapted measures of follower trust and job satisfaction. Results show that follower trust fully mediates the relationship between AI leader disclosure and job satisfaction. Although the direct effect of AI leader disclosure on job satisfaction was non-significant, the indirect effect through follower trust was significant. These findings suggest that transparent disclosure of an AI leader’s identity can support trust formation, which is critical for positive employee experiences. The study contributes to the emerging literature on AI in leadership by introducing AI leader disclosure as a relational practice and identifying follower trust as a key mechanism linking AI leaders to employee job satisfaction.