Beyond Efficiency : Understanding How Financial Professionals & Institutional Work Legitimize AI-Based Systems

Sammanfattning

Abstract Artificial intelligence is increasingly embedded in digital financial infrastructures and data-driven management systems used within contemporary organizations. Existing research on AI-enabled financial technologies has largely emphasized efficiency and technological capabilities associated with digital transformation. However, considerably less attention has been devoted to the institutional processes through which such technologies become accepted, trusted, and legitimized within professional environments. Drawing on institutional theory, legitimacy theory, and critical organization studies, this paper conceptualizes AI-driven financial systems not merely as technical tools but as organizational technologies embedded in broader institutional environments. From this perspective, technological adoption cannot be understood solely through performance improvements. Instead, the acceptance of AI in organizational settings depends on how legitimacy is constructed through professional norms, regulatory expectations and institutional trust. With digital financial infrastructures as an empirical focus, the paper contributes to research on digital transformation and institutional change by demonstrating how AI-based systems participate in the construction and negotiation of legitimacy between financial professionals within their organizational environments.