How Generative AI Activates and Detracts Individual Earned Dignity in Creative Ideation

This study examines how generative AI shapes an individual’s sense of earned dignity during creative ideation. Earned dignity—a merit-based dimension of dignity, defined as the sense of worth individuals gain through their actions—is a fundamental aspect of workplace dignity but remains underexplored in the context of human-AI collaboration. Drawing on creative cognition theory and workplace dignity literature, this study proposes a research model that investigates AI’s dual effects on dignity. In this model, we introduce two novel constructs: AI-enabled serendipity (a dignity activator) and AI-induced fixation (a dignity detractor). An online experiment using a self-developed AI ideation tool was conducted to evaluate the proposed model. The results show that earned dignity can be enhanced through AI-enabled serendipity, which strengthens ideation performance, but it can also be undermined through AI-induced fixation, which heightens feelings of dispensability. Furthermore, the findings indicate that GenAI’s creative characteristics foster AI-enabled serendipity, while AI-induced fixation is shaped by individual factors such as prior creativity and general trust in AI. Overall, this study highlights the dual role of generative AI in shaping dignity and offers insights for its responsible integration into creative work.