A Review of Artificial Intelligence, Algorithms, and Robots Through the Lens of Stakeholder Theory

Abstract

With the arrival of the Fourth Industrial Revolution, intelligent machines are affecting the daily lives of multiple organizational stakeholders. However, despite the continued expansion of intelligent machines in society, management scholarship has generally lagged, and current frameworks are under-equipped to offer meaningful guidance regarding the intersection of intelligent machines and organizations. We address this issue via a multidisciplinary review and a novel framework of intelligent machines and value creation. First, we discuss the characteristics of intelligent machines (i.e., autonomy, learning, inscrutability, and materiality) and how variation in these characteristics impacts their affordances and, subsequently, the value offered to stakeholders. We also advance the notion of value contingencies, which captures the idea that the value afforded by intelligent machines is conditional and that stakeholders’ dispositions and exploitation of intelligent machines must be considered when assessing value creation. Building on our framework, we offer recommendations for future research. Overall, we forward the literature by showcasing how intelligent machines often create both advantages and disadvantages for stakeholders and demonstrate how practitioners, policymakers, and management scholars may consider this moving forward.