Devoured AI benevolence? How and when AI benevolence triggers employees' taking charge within the zero-sum jungle

Employees increasingly perceive generative artificial intelligence (GenAI) as a supportive and benevolent workplace entity. Yet, despite examining the disruptive challenges and broad benefits of AI, extant organizational literature fails to adequately explicate the higher-order cognitive mechanisms through which AI benevolence fosters proactive, change-oriented employee behavior. Drawing on cognitive appraisal theory (CAT), this study examines the mechanisms and boundary conditions through which AI benevolence fosters employees' taking-charge behavior. Results from a three-wave survey of 313 internet industry employees demonstrate that: (i) metacognitive strategies mediated the relationship between AI benevolence and individuals' taking-charge behavior; (ii) the employee's mindset attenuated the positive effect of AI benevolence on metacognitive strategies, consequently dampening the overall indirect effect on taking-charge behavior. Ultimately, this research contributes to organizational behavior literature by elucidating how GenAI shapes employee proactivity in AI-augmented work environments.