AI awareness and the breakdown of daily recovery: A spillover pathway to work-family strain

Document Type

Article

Publication Date

1-13-2026

Abstract

Background: The growing adoption of AI in the workplace has emerged as a distinct occupational stressor, influencing employees' psychological states and extending its effects into their family lives-a dimension rarely addressed by prior research.

Objective and methods: Drawing on data collected from a final valid sample of 119 hotel frontline employees over 10 consecutive workdays via experience sampling (yielding 965 daily observations), this study investigates how AI awareness leads to work-family conflict (WFC). Specifically, we examine the mediating role of psychological detachment and the moderating function of trait resilience.

Results: Our findings demonstrate that AI awareness increases WFC by impairing employees' ability to detach from work. However, high levels of trait resilience reduce this negative pathway, supporting the buffering effect of personal resources.

Conclusion: This study advances the literature on AI awareness by uncovering how it shapes employees' work-family conflict and by positioning psychological detachment as a crucial recovery mechanism in this process.

Keywords

AI awareness, Experienced sampling method, Psychological detachment, Trait resilience, Work-family conflict

Publication Title

Frontiers in Public Health

ISSN

2296-2565

DOI

10.3389/fpubh.2025.1738073

Volume

13

First Page

1738073

Publisher

Frontiers Media SA

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