Introduction
Artificial intelligence (AI) is increasingly transforming contemporary workplaces through the adoption of algorithmic management, automated decision-making systems, digital surveillance, and AI-supported performance evaluation. While these technologies offer organizations improved efficiency, productivity, and data-driven decision-making, they also introduce significant psychological, behavioural, and organizational challenges that remain underexplored in existing research. In particular, the growing use of AI-enabled systems has intensified concerns surrounding AI anxiety, toxic leadership practices, and organizational control mechanisms in digital work environments.
Employees operating in AI-driven workplaces are increasingly exposed to continuous monitoring, performance pressure, and uncertainty regarding job security and automation. These conditions contribute to psychological responses such as technostress, digital fatigue, emotional exhaustion, fear of replacement, and reduced trust in organizational systems. At the same time, the integration of algorithmic technologies into managerial processes may unintentionally reinforce toxic leadership behaviours, including abusive supervision, excessive control, and surveillance-oriented management practices. Such developments reshape workplace relationships, power dynamics, and employee behavioural responses in significant ways.
This book, Impacts of AI Anxiety and Toxic Leadership on Employee Behavior and Organizational Control, critically examines the interconnected effects of AI anxiety, toxic leadership, and algorithmic management in modern organizations. The volume is organized into three domains. Domain 1 focuses on AI anxiety and employee psychological experiences, including technostress, job insecurity, employee silence, and coping strategies. Domain 2 examines toxic leadership in AI-mediated environments, including abusive supervision, digital surveillance, performance pressure, and ethical leadership concerns. Domain 3 explores algorithmic management and organizational control, highlighting employee resistance, psychological safety, organizational culture, and community-centred approaches to managing digital workplace challenges.
By bringing together conceptual, empirical, and practical perspectives, this book contributes to a deeper understanding of the human consequences of AI-driven workplace transformation and emphasizes the importance of ethical, transparent, and human-centered approaches to organizational management in the digital era.