A Self‐Focused Perspective on Generative AI Usage and Adaptive Performance: The Roles of Self‐Expansion and Perceived GenAI–Self Similarity

ABSTRACT

Existing research has primarily conceptualized generative artificial intelligence (GenAI) as an instrumental technology that enhances employees' task capabilities and work outcomes, leaving unclear whether and how interactions with GenAI may shape employees' sense of self. This question is important because GenAI may influence not only what employees accomplish but also how they perceive their own knowledge and capabilities, which are critical for adapting to changing work demands. Drawing on self‐expansion theory, we propose that GenAI usage enhances employees' adaptive performance by fostering self‐expansion and that perceived GenAI–self similarity strengthens this process. We tested the proposed model using a three‐wave time‐lagged survey of 220 full‐time employees in China. Results showed that GenAI usage fostered self‐expansion, which subsequently enhanced adaptive performance, and this indirect effect was stronger among employees with higher GenAI–self similarity. By highlighting self‐expansion as a process through which GenAI‐enabled knowledge, perspectives, and capabilities can become incorporated into employees' self‐concepts, this study provides a self‐expansion perspective on human–GenAI augmentation and identifies perceived GenAI–self similarity as an important boundary condition of this process.