JOURNAL: Enthusiasm over fear: what separates AI adopters from non-adopters

Debates about firms’ adoption of artificial intelligence (AI) are often dominated by concerns about risk, disruption and fear, while the relative role of enabling conditions remains underexplored at the firm level. Drawing on the technology–organization–environment framework and innovation-diffusion theory, this study examines what differentiates AI adopters, planners and non-adopters among 816 predominantly medium-sized and large firms in Slovakia, an emerging EU economy. Combining variable-centered analyses, including Kruskal–Wallis tests, effect sizes and ordinal and multinomial logistic regressions, with person-centered cluster profiling, the study identifies organizational AI maturity as the strongest correlate of adoption stage. This maturity reflects realized capabilities in culture, strategy, data and governance, and is complemented by positive enabling sentiment, including leadership conviction, strategic alignment and resource commitment. Contrary to fear-centered explanations, negative sentiment related to job threats, skepticism and perceived risk is comparatively weak and does not distinguish planners from adopters, although it remains associated with outright non-adoption. The results suggest that AI diffusion is driven less by a fear gap than by an enthusiasm-and-readiness gap. The findings highlight the importance of managerial conviction and organizational readiness for AI adoption in catching-up economies.

Authors: Peter Štetka, Nora Grisáková, Vladimír Hojdík, Slavka Šagátová, Dana Hrušovská, Diana Pallérová