Abstract: With the widespread use of AI in the workplace, AI has gradually become a collaborator in employees’ work and has a profound impact on employees’ behavioral performance. The impact of AI use on employees’ work performance still needs to be explored in depth. Based on social cognitive theory, this paper explores the mechanism of how AI use influences employee work performance from the functional perspective and the relationship perspective respectively. An independent research is conducted using scenario experiment method and questionnaire method. The results of scenario experiments show that AI use has a positive impact on employee work performance. The questionnaire results show that AI use has a positive impact on employee work performance through width self-efficacy, and AI use will also have a positive impact on employee work performance through process participation. Width self-efficacy and process participation play a mediating role in the impact of AI use on employee work performance. The indirect effect of AI use on employee performance through breadth self-efficacy and process participation is stronger when AI training is stronger.The research results further expand the research on the impact of AI use on employee performance, providing practical implications for employee performance management in the intelligent workplace.

Key words: AI use, work performance, breadth self-efficacy, process participation, AI training