Revising the “science of the organisation”: Theorising AI agency and actorhood
Abstract
Artificial intelligence is a central technology underpinning the fourth industrial revolution, driving dramatic changes in contemporary cyber-physical systems and challenging existing ways of theorising organisations and management. AI agency and the rise of the artificially intelligent agent are both fundamentally different and yet increasingly similar to human agency in terms of intentionality and reflexivity. As ‘Child AI’ emerges—AI that is created by other AI—the early human design and interaction becomes increasingly distant and removed. These developments, while seemingly futuristic, change the human-technology interface through which we organise. In this essay, we explore understandings of AI agency, capability, and governance, and present implications for organisatonal theorising in sociomateriality, actor-network theory, institutional theory and the behavioral theory of the firm. We contribute to a growing and reflexive research agenda that can accommodate and regenerate theorising around this significant technological advancement.
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These attributes of AI algorithms mean they have the potential to impact work design in new, and often more extreme, ways.
“As we elaborate in this review, these attributes of AI algorithms mean they have the potential to impact work design in new, and often more extreme, ways (van Rijmenam & Logue, 2021).”
From Algorithms as work designers: How algorithmic management influences the design of jobs (2022) · cites this paper as van Rijmenam & Logue, 2021
Cites
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Algorithms as work designers: How algorithmic management influences the design of jobs
Parent-Rocheleau, X., & Parker, S. K. (2022) · Human Resource Management Review · doi:10.1016/j.hrmr.2021.100838 · Cited by 512 · see citing works
- Authors
- van Rijmenam, M., & Logue, D.
- Affiliations
- University of Technology Sydney
- University of Technology Sydney (AU)
- Venue
- Innovation
- Publisher
- Informa UK Limited
- Published
- 2020-09-11
- Volume
- 23
- Issue
- 1
- Pages
- 127-144
- ISSN
- 1447-9338 (ISSN-L)
- 2204-0226
- OpenAlex
- W3086483470
- Cited by
- 30
- References
- 6
- Citations by year
- 2026: 8 · 2025: 6 · 2024: 4 · 2023: 3 · 2022: 7 · 2021: 2
- FWCI
- 4.02
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- closed
- Locations
- Innovation (publishedVersion)
- Topics
- Social Sciences › Sociology and Political Science › Information Systems Theories and Implementation
- Social Sciences › Business, Management and Accounting › Organizational Behavior and Human Resource Management › Management and Organizational Studies
- Physical Sciences › Computer Science › Artificial Intelligence › Artificial Intelligence Applications
- Keywords
- AI agency, artificial intelligence, actorhood, organizational theory, human-technology interface, AI governance, AI capabilities, sociomateriality, actor-network theory, institutional theory, behavioral theory of the firm, reflexivity, intentionality, cyber-physical systems
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