AI adoption and employees' physical and cognitive ergonomic outcomes in the information technology sector: The mediating roles of trust in ai and workload

BackgroundThe rapid adoption of artificial intelligence (AI) in the information technology (IT) reshaping the work design, with significant consequences for employee well-being and ergonomics. While AI enhances efficiency through task automation, its influence on workload dynamics and ergonomic consequences remains not sufficiently understood, particularly in emerging economy contexts.ObjectiveGrounded in the Job Demands-Resources (JD-R) framework and informed by Sociotechnical Systems Theory, this study investi…

By the Truvace deskOctober 20, 20262 min read1 sourcePeer-reviewedTRV-2026-2042· cite & verify

In brief

A survey-based study of information technology professionals in India used structural equation modeling to test how AI adoption relates to employees' physical and cognitive ergonomic outcomes. It measured seven constructs, including performance expectancy, effort expectancy, usage behavior, trust in AI, workload, physical ergonomic discomfort, and digital fatigue.

The results suggest that how much employees trust AI and how heavy their workload is may determine whether AI adoption helps or harms their wellbeing. This points employers toward trust-building and workload management, though the abstract reports associations from a single-sector sample and does not show how results generalize beyond it.

Main points

AI adoption was associated with higher trust in AI and with reduced workload among the surveyed IT professionals.
Trust in AI was negatively associated with workload, while workload positively influenced both physical ergonomic discomfort and cognitive fatigue.
Trust and workload fully mediated the AI adoption and ergonomics relationship, while trust partially mediated the link between AI adoption and workload.
The authors frame AI as both a job resource and a source of new job demands, consistent with the Job Demands-Resources framework.

The gain

Among IT professionals in India, greater AI adoption is associated with higher trust in AI and lower workload, which in turn is linked to less physical discomfort and cognitive fatigue.

The rundown

The study is grounded in the Job Demands-Resources framework and informed by Sociotechnical Systems Theory. It focuses on IT professionals in India, an emerging economy context the authors say is not sufficiently understood.

Methodologically, AI adoption was modeled with three sub-dimensions and employee ergonomics with two higher-order sub-dimensions, while trust and workload were lower-order constructs. Exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses preceded structural equation modeling.

The serial mediation results showed partial mediation by trust and workload in the link between AI adoption and ergonomics, alongside a significant direct effect of AI adoption on ergonomics. The authors conclude that human-centric implementation should emphasize trust-building and workload management.