The Organizational Transmission of AI: The Role of Managers on AI Adoption and Impact

Abstract

Using longitudinal data from the Gallup Workforce Panel covering more than 30,000 U.S. employees surveyed from 2023 to Q1:2026, I document heterogeneous adoption of AI and its "organizational transmission'' within firms. The share of frequent (occasional) AI users grew from under 10% to over 27% (10% to 21%), with post-2024 growth driven by occasional users converting to frequent use rather than new adopters at the extensive margin. Adoption follows the organizational hierarchy - senior leaders reach the low-40s in frequent use by Q1:2026, individual contributors the low-20s - and varies sharply by industry, occupation, and income. Employees reporting that their organization has a clear AI strategy are roughly 27 percentage points more likely to report using AI at least multiple times per week. Strategic clarity is concentrated in organizations that exhibit greater developmental feedback and trust in leadership, suggesting employees infer "strategy'' from managerial behavior rather than formal policy. Exploiting within-person variation and a job-switcher design, I show that the relationship between AI use and worker outcomes is strongly contingent on organizational context. Frequent use without a clear strategy carries a near-zero association with engagement and a positive association with burnout; the interaction with clear strategy, however, tends to flip both signs. Perceived clarity also operates through trust in leadership: frequent users in high-trust environments report 0.61-0.72 SD larger perceived productivity gains and tilt usage toward learning rather than routine automation. These patterns are consistent with a model in which managers shape adoption through communication and psychological safety, and benefits are strongest when clarity and trust are jointly high.

Keywords: generative AI, technology adoption, managers, trust, communication, organizational diffusion, artificial intelligence, Gallup

JEL Classification: O33, M15, M54