Human Factors in Mandated AI Adoption: An Empirical Study of Decision-Making, Trust Calibration, and Organizational Behavior in National Defense Contexts

This study empirically examines the human factors infrastructure — training, policy, governance, and command climate — that determines whether mandated AI adoption translates into decision superiority in national security and defense contexts. Specifically, it investigates the consequences of the Department of War's January 2026 AI Acceleration Strategy, which mandated GenAI deployment across 3+ million personnel under the premise that the risks of moving too slowly outweigh the risks of imperfect alignment. The study addresses the following primary research question: What human factors emerge when large organizations mandate AI adoption, and what are the specific consequences in high-stakes national defense contexts? Key variables under investigation include automation bias, trust calibration, prompt literacy, AI hallucination awareness, leadership decision-making under mandated technology adoption, organizational behavioral responses, and policy and guardrail gaps. This study is the empirical follow-on to two companion publications: (1) a peer-reviewed manuscript, "The Human Variable," submitted to Parameters and Joint Force Quarterly, which synthesizes the secondary literature and proposes a tiered Human Factors Integration Framework; and (2) a white paper of the same title submitted to INSID, OUSW(I&S), April 2026. The three documents together constitute a coordinated research program moving from literature synthesis and policy recommendation to empirical measurement and evidence-based implementation guidance. Expected outcomes include primary data that validates, qualifies, or refines the Human Factors Integration Framework proposed in the companion publications, and actionable evidence-based recommendations for DoD training policy, AI governance, and command climate development.