Project description
To what extent do monitoring practices, organizational frameworks, and individual perceptions of benefits and risks influence employees’ willingness to disclose their personal data in a digitalized work environment? What role do AI-based applications, in particular AI assistants, as well as corporate policies and regulatory frameworks play in this context? These questions were addressed by the research project Determinants of Data Disclosure in the Digital Workplace (DetDat).
The project was motivated by the increasing use of digital and AI-based tools in organizations, which is closely linked to the continuous generation and processing of employee data. In particular, AI assistants rely on the extensive integration of employee data in order to provide personalized support. This data offers substantial potential for organizations, for example by increasing productivity, efficiency, and organizational learning. At the same time, the permanent generation of data leads to heightened transparency of employees, thereby intensifying concerns related to privacy, control, and informational self-determination. Against this background, the project examined employees’ willingness to disclose their data as a fundamental prerequisite for the successful digitalization of the workplace.
Methodologically, the project combined a conceptual and a quantitative study. The conceptual analysis demonstrated that data disclosure in AI-driven work environments does not constitute a one-time decision but must be understood as a continuous process. AI assistants continuously generate and process data, often automatically and without employees’ active involvement. This results in three fundamental shifts: data disclosure becomes passive and ongoing, the boundaries of data use become increasingly blurred, and traditional consent and data protection models prove insufficient.
Building on these insights, the quantitative study investigated the specific determinants of employees’ willingness to engage in continuous data disclosure in the digital workplace context. The findings showed that, from the employees’ perspective, perceived benefits and perceived risks exerted an equally strong influence. Organizations could not compensate for insufficient risk mitigation solely by offering additional benefits. Privacy concerns emerged as the strongest risk driver and had the most pronounced negative effect on willingness to disclose data. At the same time, personalization, perceived usefulness, and organizational value proved to be key positive drivers. Trust in employers and service providers, as well as perceived regulatory effectiveness, significantly reduce perceived risks. Moreover, employees’ willingness to disclose data emerged as a fundamental determinant of the acceptance of AI assistants in the workplace.
Overall, the results demonstrate that the successful introduction of AI-based systems in the workplace requires organizations to simultaneously create clear value for employees, actively reduce perceived risks, and establish transparent and comprehensible structures for handling employee data. The project highlights that responsible digitalization in the work context depends on the interplay of technical, organizational, and regulatory measures and that continuous data disclosure poses new challenges for governance, regulation, and digital employee rights.
Project team
Prof. Dr. Thomas Hess
Member of bidt's Board of Directors and the Executive Commitee | Director of the Institute for Digital Management and New Media, Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität
Prof. Dr. Alexander Pretschner
Chairman of bidt's Board of Directors and the Executive Commitee | Chair of Software & Systems Engineering, Technical University of Munich | Scientific director, fortiss
