How does AI literacy empower decision-making quality? The mediating role of employee-AI collaboration and the moderating role of AI trust

This study explored the relationship between Artificial Intelligence (AI) literacy and decision-making quality, with employee-AI collaboration serving as the mediating variable, while also examining the moderating role of AI trust in this process. The research is based on the conservation of resources theory. A questionnaire survey was conducted among 435 employees of high-end manufacturing enterprises in the Yangtze River Delta and Pearl River Delta regions of China. Hierarchical regression analysis was employed to test the theoretical model. The research results indicate that AI literacy was positively related to decision-making quality. Employee-AI collaboration played a mediating role in the relationship between AI literacy and decision-making quality. Further analysis of the moderating effects also indicates that different modes of AI trust have different moderating roles. The relationship between employee-AI collaboration and decision-making quality was weaker for employees with high initial trust; however, the relationship between employee-AI collaboration and decision-making quality was stronger for employees with high post-task trust. This study provides a new theoretical perspective for understanding the relationship between AI literacy and decision-making quality, and offers empirical evidence for optimizing the design and management practices in human-AI collaborative systems.