WHEN THE MACHINE ARRIVES: WORKPLACE AI, TRUST, AND INNOVATIVE WORK BEHAVIOUR IN GHANAIAN ORGANIZATIONS

Organizations in Ghana and across Africa are adopting artificial intelligence in human resource and work processes, yet employee responses remain uncertain, with trust repeatedly identified as a central determinant of acceptance and job-security fears a recurring concern. Drawing on literature on workplace AI, affective commitment, psychological contracts, psychological safety, trust, and innovative work behaviour, this conceptual review develops a dual-route model of employee responses to workplace AI. Through affective commitment, AI experienced as useful and supportive operates as a positive resource and may strengthen innovative work behaviour. Through psychological contract breach, AI experienced as a threat to job security and professional agency may be interpreted as a withdrawn promise and may reduce innovation by eroding psychological safety, a mechanism distinct from commitment. The model proposes trust in AI as the condition that shapes which route is more likely to dominate and positions Ghana's cultural and institutional context, including high power distance, collectivism, uneven AI readiness, and heightened job-security sensitivity, as a boundary that may sharpen the breach route. The paper contributes a trust-conditioned, dual-route account of workplace AI suited to African organizational realities and identifies practical implications for introducing AI in ways that support innovation while reducing perceived threat.