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Rethinking how we theorize ai in organization and management: a problematizing review of rationality and anthropomorphism
LUT University, Finland.
LUT University, Finland.
Umeå University, Faculty of Social Sciences, Umeå School of Business and Economics (USBE). Stanford University, United States.ORCID iD: 0000-0001-5486-9017
LUT University, Finland.
2025 (English)In: Journal of Management Studies, ISSN 0022-2380, E-ISSN 1467-6486Article, review/survey (Refereed) Epub ahead of print
Abstract [en]

Artificial intelligence (AI) has long held the promise of imitating, replacing, or even surpassing human intelligence. Now that the abilities of AI systems have started to approach this initial aspiration, organization and management scholars face a challenge in how to theorize this technology, which potentially changes the way we view technology: not as a tool, but as something that enters previously human-only domains. To navigate this theorizing challenge, we adopt the problematizing review method by engaging in a selective and critical reading of the theoretical contributions regarding AI, in the most influential organization and management journals. We examine how the literature has grounded itself with AI as the root metaphor and what field assumptions about AI are shared – or contested – in the field. We uncover two core assumptions of rationality and anthropomorphism, around which fruitful debates are already emerging. We discuss these two assumptions and their organizational boundary conditions in the context of theorizing AI. Finally, we invite scholars to build distinctive organization and management theory scaffolding within the broader social science of AI.

Place, publisher, year, edition, pages
John Wiley & Sons, 2025.
Keywords [en]
anthropomorphism, artificial intelligence, management, organization, problematization, rationality, review
National Category
Business Administration
Identifiers
URN: urn:nbn:se:umu:diva-242193DOI: 10.1111/joms.13246ISI: 001522385200001Scopus ID: 2-s2.0-105009718110OAI: oai:DiVA.org:umu-242193DiVA, id: diva2:1983942
Funder
The Jan Wallander and Tom Hedelius Foundation, W21‐0008Available from: 2025-07-14 Created: 2025-07-14 Last updated: 2025-07-14

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Kostis, Angelos

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CiteExportLink to record
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