Reconfiguring Decision-Making in the Age of AI : Implications for Decision Structures, Information Processing, and Governance

Sammanfattning

This master thesis examines how the integration of artificial intelligence (AI) systems into organizational workflows reshapes decision structures and governance in hybrid and exception-based settings. The study addresses a gap in the literature concerning how AI becomes embedded in organizational decision-making processes, how it reshapes information processing, decision responsibility, and oversight are maintained in AI-supported environments. This research adopts an abductive qualitative design and draws on 10 semi-structured interviews with professionals in strategic and decision-related roles across organizations from different sectors and national contexts. The data were analyzed using thematic analysis. The study contributes to research on organizational decision-making and AI governance by showing that decision-making is increasingly shaped by AI systems that filter, prioritize and structure information before human interpretation, thereby influencing how decisions are formed. In addition, AI affects role distribution in decision-making processes by influencing when and how human actors participate across different stages of decision-making, while highlighting the emergence of ongoing monitoring of AI systems as part of governance practices. Governance practices are embedded in system design and enacted through escalation routines, threshold-based interventions, and user competence in interpreting AI outputs.