Organizational Barriers to AI Adoption: An IT Consulting Industry Perspective

The rapid advancement of artificial intelligence (AI) presents organizational challenges, particularly in today’s dynamic business environment. Despite AI’s transformative potential, organizations struggle with AI adoption due to insufficient leadership commitment, unrealistic expectations, and ineffective change management. Addressing these challenges is necessary to maximize AI’s potential in an increasingly digital world. The purpose of this qualitative case study was to understand what specific organizational barriers contribute to the failure of AI projects in the information technology (IT) consulting industry using an organizational change management lens. The study included a purposive sample of 14 employees from three publicly traded IT consulting firms in the United States with 1,000 or more employees. Data were collected from individual, semistructured interviews, documents, and archival records and were analyzed using a multistage coding process. Analysis yielded four themes related to barriers to AI adoption: (a) capacity for change, (b) strategic visioning, (c) empowering action, and (d) building momentum. Categories highlighted that deficiencies in data and cultural readiness, AI literacy, leadership alignment, and cross-functional coordination were barriers to successful AI adoption. Findings indicated that challenges to AI success are primarily organizational rather than technological. The study has implications for both research and practice, seeking to extend organizational change management theory while providing actionable insights for IT consultants and business leaders to guide organizational change efforts during AI adoption. Future research should explore AI adoption in different industry contexts and investigate ethical considerations for AI adoption.