Artificial Intelligence in Government: How Organizational and Behavioural Drivers Shape the Use of AI Insights in Decision-Making

Abstract

This research evaluates the key drivers that shape employee intention to use and recommend AI-driven insights in the process of making decisions within organizations operating in the public sector. Using survey data collected from 106 employees working in the Saudi Arabian public sector this study focuses on how the four constructs; trust, perceived usefulness, leadership support and misalignment with operational plans influence the intention to use and recommend AI-powered insights in decision-making processes. Findings from the study show that all four constructs are statistically significant, though they vary in their influence on AI insights utilization. Usefulness and leadership support are the strongest predictors particularly when it comes to recommending AI insights to other employees. Trust in AI outputs has a statistically significant impact on the dependent variable however its effect is selective where specific traits such as perceived competence and reliability in handling complex tasks appear as significant predictors. This shows the importance of evaluating trust as a multidimensional construct rather than a single uniform aspect. In the same manner, although respondents exhibited openness to change, the misalignment between AI recommendations and operational plans was found to possibly inhibit the integration of AI insights. Particularly, factors such as emotional discomfort and the preference of the traditional processes of making decisions highlights the psychological and structural aspects that affect AI insights integration. This research provides an important contribution to the growing volume of knowledge focusing on understanding factors influencing the integration of AI powered insights in decision making processes across the Saudi Arabian public sector. This discussion introduces human behaviour as a critical aspect to consider in evaluating the key drivers that promote the intention to use AI insights as well as to recommend to others in decision making processes. Recommendation, in particular, is viewed as a key behaviour that plays an important role in encouraging trust and normalizing the use of AI insights within organizations. By focusing on the Saudi Arabian public sector this research creates real-word data that can be used to develop practical, academic and formal recommendations to improve the use of AI insights in decision-making processes in the public sector.