THE INFLUENCE OF AI READINESS ON EMPLOYEE PERFORMANCE: THE ROLE OF ORGANIZATIONAL SUPPORT

Author: Malaysia

Abstract

Artificial intelligence (AI) is spreading quickly through Malaysian workplaces under national agendas such as the Malaysia Digital Economy Blueprint (MyDIGITAL) and the National AI Roadmap 2021–2025. Even so, the human side of AI adoption has received little empirical attention, especially the question of whether employees' readiness for AI turns into better performance. Drawing on Organizational Support Theory and the Job Demands–Resources model, this study examines the influence of employee AI readiness on employee performance and tests whether perceived organizational support (POS) moderates that relationship. A quantitative cross-sectional survey was administered to 384 employees in Malaysian public-sector, private-sector and government-linked organizations. Data were analysed with IBM SPSS Statistics (version 29) using descriptive statistics, Pearson correlation and hierarchical moderated multiple regression, with the moderation probed through simple-slope analysis. AI readiness significantly and positively predicted employee performance (β = .327, p < .001), and so did perceived organisational support (β = .324, p < .001). The AI Readiness × POS interaction was also significant (β = .126, p = .005, ΔR² = .015). The positive effect of AI readiness on performance was stronger when organizational support was high. The final model explained 29.1% of the variance in employee performance. The findings suggest that individual readiness alone is not enough: organizations must actively provide training, resources and a supportive climate to translate employees' AI readiness into performance gains. This study discusses implications for HR policy, AI-transition management, and future research in Malaysia.