Organisational Transmission of AI: Managerial Influence on Generative AI Adoption

About the seminar topic

Using longitudinal data from the Gallup Panel with roughly 10,000 US respondents, surveyed annually between 2023 and 2025, we document new patterns in the heterogeneous adoption of generative AI and its organisational transmission within firms. We show that trust in leadership and clear managerial communication are the strongest predictors of employee uptake, even after accounting for income, occupation and sector. Exploiting within-person variation and managerial exposure, we demonstrate that the complementarity between AI adoption and workplace culture significantly shapes employee outcomes. Specifically, employees who adopt AI in environments characterised by high managerial trust and clear communication exhibit markedly higher engagement relative to peers adopting AI under weaker managerial conditions. These results highlight the central role of managers in mediating technology diffusion and underscore that the productivity gains from AI hinge not only on the technology itself but also on the organisational context in which it is deployed.

Speaker bio

Christos serves as an Associate Research Professor at the WP Carey School of Business and Research Affiliate at the Global Security Initiative (both in Arizona State University), an Associate Faculty at the Complexity Science Hub in Vienna, a Digital Fellow at the Digital Economy Lab in Stanford University, a Non-resident Fellow at the Institute for Religious Studies at Baylor University, Visiting Faculty at University of Nicosia, Senior Researcher at The Gallup Organisation, a policy adviser and an entrepreneur. 

He is the CEO/founder of Dainamic, a financial technology service provider working to democratise the use and application of data science and AI techniques for small and mid-sized organisations, COO/co-founder of Living Opera, a classical music multimedia production company with an associated 501(c)3 Foundation, and CEO/Founder of CM Culture Management, a boutique artist management and cultural placemaking service provider. 

Christos earned a Bachelor’s in Economics and Minor in Mathematics at Arizona State University as well as dual Masters and PhDs in Economics and Management Science & Engineering at Stanford University. Christos’ primary academic research focuses on labour economics, the digital economy and personal finance and well-being.

No registration required

No registration required. If you have any questions about this seminar, please email Emily Brown.