An Ecological Model of Task Disruption: The Impact of Partial Automation of Jobs through AI

In this paper, we build on a relational perspective on tasks to develop an ecological model of task disruption that unpacks the subtle yet far-reaching impacts of task alterations as they reverberate through a web of interconnections within and across organizations. Tasks are central to organizational life, and yet they have been primarily theorized as atomistic and interchangeable plug-and-play components. We take a relational perspective of tasks as embedded into and playing an essential role in structuring a complex web of relationships among people, jobs, and roles in organizations. We argue that this relational perspective is particularly important for understanding the full consequences of task alterations occurring with the implementation of AI in organizations. We theorize first-order changes to tasks in organizations with the introduction of AI technologies, followed by how responses to initial disruptions trigger second-order effects, as additional tasks are shifted in response through a process that we call “task vacancy chains.” Our ecological model also unpacks how these task disruptions will have broader consequences for jobs, job incumbents, and the organization’s social fabric. We discuss the theoretical contributions of this paper and conclude by proposing directions for research on task disruption and its impacts.