Cultural Norms of Generative AI Adoption and Non-Adoption in the Workplace

• In Event: Organizations, Occupations, and Work Section Roundtables
  In Refereed Roundtable (90 minute): Table 4: Technology Use at Work

Abstract

Clear differences distinguish groups that adopt AI from those that do not, particularly with respect to cognitive capacity (AI literacy), attitudes toward technology and social influence, and economic position. First, AI adopters tend to display higher levels of AI literacy—that is, a stronger capacity to understand, use, and critically evaluate AI tools. Second, adopters are more likely to experience positive social influence, such as encouragement from peers or mentors to use AI technologies. Third, adopters are often situated in positions that afford greater control over capital and technological resources, reinforcing patterns commonly described as the “digital divide.” Building on these insights, this study extends the discussion to workplace settings and asks how cultural norms surrounding the adoption and non-adoption of generative AI are emerging in organizational environments. From a Bourdieusian perspective, whether workers “use AI” or “do not use AI” is not merely a matter of individual preference or instrumental efficiency. Rather, it can be understood as a process through which “normal” and “deviant” practices are constituted via symbolic struggles over legitimacy within a field. Although habitus appears as an individual disposition, it is fundamentally a classed and educationally patterned set of embodied sensibilities that differentiates groups through distinctions in taste, judgment, and practice. In organizational contexts, these patterned dispositions can be conceptualized as institutional habitus, capturing how organizational histories, evaluation regimes, and professional norms shape what actors perceive as appropriate, legitimate, and desirable conduct (Vaughan, 2021). Extending Bourdieu’s theory, this project begins with the question of how cultural norms surrounding the adoption and non-adoption of generative AI emerge and consolidate in workplace settings, and it aims to develop and refine Bourdieusian theory in relation to contemporary AI-mediated labor from a sociological standpoint.

Author

• Daseul Kim, Stony Brook University