A study analyzing why office workers use ChatGPT for their work and what results it brings has been published in the International Journal of Human–Computer Interaction (IJHCI, SSCI), an international journal in the field of human–computer interaction. Titled “AI in the Workplace,” the study was conducted jointly by researchers at the HJ Institute of Technology and Management (HJITM) and Professor Do-Hyung Park of the Graduate School of Business IT at Kookmin University, who served as corresponding author.

The researchers analyzed responses from 351 Korean office workers in their 20s to 40s working across various industries using structural equation modeling. They examined how ChatGPT’s perceived intelligence and its self-learning ability to improve its own performance lead through information support and knowledge acquisition to practical benefits, intention to use and actual use.

The analysis showed that perceived intelligence significantly increased information support (β=0.495) and knowledge acquisition (β=0.456), and self-learning ability likewise increased information support (β=0.278) and knowledge acquisition (β=0.311). Notably, knowledge acquisition had the largest effect on practical benefits (β=0.540), nearly twice that of information support (β=0.274). This means the sense of learning something new while working creates usefulness more than simply getting answers does.

Practical benefits (β=0.400), knowledge acquisition (β=0.291) and information support (β=0.187) all affected intention to use, and intention to use led strongly to actual use (β=0.510). However, the direct effect of practical benefits on actual use was not significant. Even when people perceive benefits, they move to actual use only once an intention to use forms. Among the control variables, actual usage levels differed by gender and age, but not by industry.

The study is significant in empirically demonstrating the pathways through which generative AI contributes to workers’ productivity and learning, separating them into information support and knowledge acquisition. It suggests that companies should position generative AI not as a simple search-and-answer tool but as a learning tool for employees, and should provide training and usage guidelines that raise intention to use.

HJITM continues to conduct research on the impact of generative AI on the workplace.