Me, my role, and (A)I: A qualitative case study on how managers proactively craft their role in response to AI-driven changes in knowledge work

Sammanfattning

Artificial intelligence is becoming embedded in knowledge work, reshaping how information is accessed, produced, evaluated, and translated into organizational action. Prior research has examined AI's implications for expertise, decision-making, and work transformation, but less is known about how managers reshape their role when AI alters the conditions of knowledge work. Drawing on job crafting theory, this thesis examines how managers proactively craft their role amid AI-driven changes in knowledge work. The study adopts a qualitative single-case design at a large multinational technology company, anonymized as TechCo, based on 20 semi-structured interviews with managers across functions, hierarchical levels, and degrees of AI exposure. Findings show that managers engage in selective role crafting rather than uniform AI adoption. Task crafting occurs as managers move AI into first-pass knowledge work, shifting their effort from producing inputs while retaining responsibility for validation, contextualization, and final judgment. Relational crafting occurs around managerial interactions, where AI supports preparation and communication while managers protect trust, empathy, authenticity, and accountability. Cognitive crafting occurs as managers reinterpret their value, moving from producing answers toward validating, translating, enabling, and making knowledge actionable for others. The thesis contributes by showing that AI-driven managerial role crafting unfolds through expansion and protection, relocating rather than reducing managerial value.