Human AI collaboration in HR: ethical and strategic implications for employee engagement

This study investigates the ethical and strategic implications of human—AI collaboration in human resource management (HRM) aimed at enhancing employee engagement. The study employs an interdisciplinary design, and alongside its robust quantitative analysis (difference-in-differences and causal forests), quantitative data will be complemented with an exploratory qualitative investigation based on semi-structured interviews and thematic analysis conducted with the help of large language models. The findings demonstrate that AI-assisted coaching dashboards significantly improve employee engagement, particularly among newer employees and knowledge workers, with effects mediated by increased perceived fairness and trust in AI. The research highlights the cruciality of human control to be transparent, fair and collaborate with accountability to AI-mediated HR interventions. The stability, privacy and fairness of the approach are corroborated by robustness checks, showing the viability of the solution in an HRM setting. These results contribute to the growing body of knowledge on responsible AI adoption, highlighting pathways for organizations to leverage AI’s strategic potential while maintaining human-centric ethical governance.