Team Learning in AI-Integrated Work Processes: A Qualitative Study of AI use and its implications for Team Learning Behaviors within Professional Service Firms

Sammanfattning

Artificial intelligence (AI) is increasingly integrated into knowledge-intensive work, shaping how employees seek information, develop knowledge, and collaborate. While existing research has primarily focused on human-AI collaboration, technological capabilities, and performance outcomes, less attention has been paid to how AI becomes embedded in the interpersonal learning processes through which teams learn in everyday work. This study examines how and why the use of AI in work processes shapes team learning behaviors within Professional Service Firms (PSFs). Drawing on a qualitative multiple-case study of two Swedish PSFs operating within audit and accounting, the empirical material consists of twelve semi-structured interviews. Adopting an abductive approach, the study combines a sociotechnical systems perspective with the concept of team learning behaviors to explore how AI becomes integrated into team learning processes. The findings show that employees frequently use AI when encountering uncertainty, allowing them to gain orientation, clarify questions, and develop preliminary understanding before involving colleagues. Rather than replacing collaboration, AI becomes embedded in existing work practices as an additional layer between individual uncertainty and interpersonal interaction. This reshapes how team members share knowledge, co-construct understanding, engage across boundaries, and participate in learning-related activities. At the same time, learning processes that occur through individual human-AI interactions may become less visible to the wider team. The study further shows that AI-mediated team learning is shaped by organisational and situational conditions, including time and efficiency pressure, accessibility of support and perceived interpersonal risk-taking. It concludes that AI becomes embedded in sociotechnical work systems and reconfigures how team learning behaviors are enacted, distributed, and made visible within teams.