How does AI influence creativity in work environments? Examining employees' attitudes and perceptions in the context of crisis communication in Greece

What are the perceptions of employees in the Greek market of communications regarding AI use and its influence on employee creativity? As Artificial Intelligence becomes increasingly integrated into professional environments, it is essential to understand how employees perceive AI and how its use influences one of the most valuable skills: creativity. The following study aims to explore the attitudes of employees toward Artificial Intelligence (AI), their perceptions of how these attitudes could predict its use in work-related environments and how this use influence their creative outcomes. Specifically, the study seeks to answer the following research questions: Overarching RQ: To what extent does work-related AI use influences perceived employee creativity? Sub-question: How does AI use mediate the connection between positive attitudes toward AI and perceived employee creativity? To address these questions, the study draws on established theoretical frameworks such as the Diffusion of Innovation Theory (Rogers et al., 2014, pp. 41-43) integrating also the AI Device Acceptance (AIDUA) model (Gursoy et al., 2019, pp. 158-161) to explain how attitudes toward AI are formed and can lead to actual use, the Componential Theory of Creativity (Amabile, 2013, p. 4) and the concept of augmented creativity to capture the enhancement of creativity, through AI use. The research method employed is quantitative and a survey was designed to gather responses from professionals working in the Greek market of communications. The survey was completed with N=155 participants. The findings reveal that the positive attitudes toward AI are more prevalent among communication professionals and work-related AI use significantly enhances perceived employee creativity. The study includes also a mediation model, which reveals that positive attitudes toward AI influence employee creativity both directly and indirectly. This dual pathway creates promising directions for future research. The results offer meaningful insights for both scholars and practitioners, as they suggest that fostering positive attitudes toward AI and integrating this technology into organizational workflows can enhance employee creativity. Additionally, the findings highlight the importance of conducting further research investigating employees' perceptions from various industries and calls for refined measures of attitudes to align more with multidimensional models like AIDUA. Finally, the findings underline the importance of building a work environment that supports AI use and helps employees enhance their creative potential related to their work.