How does AI adoption in construction organisations influence employee well-being? The mediating role of job crafting

This study examines the impact of organizational AI adoption on project managers’ job crafting behaviours and subsequent effects on work engagement and emotional exhaustion in construction organizations. Drawing on the Job Crafting framework and the Job Demands–Resources (JD-R) model, we operationalized AI-related structural and social job resources, challenging job demands, and reduction of hindering demands. Data were collected from 393 project managers and analysed using structural equation modelling. Results indicate that AI adoption significantly enhances all dimensions of job crafting, with the strongest effects on structural and challenging job resources. Social job resources and challenging demands positively influenced work engagement, whereas structural resources did not, and reductions in hindering demands unexpectedly decreased engagement while increasing exhaustion. These findings reveal the dual-edged nature of AI in construction project management, highlighting the importance of combining technological adoption with social support and skill development. The study contributes to theory by integrating AI into job crafting and JD-R frameworks and offers practical guidance for enhancing employee well-being in AI-enabled construction projects.