Generative AI Adoption, Knowledge Creation, and Innovation Performance: The Role of Human–AI Collaboration

Abstract

Generative artificial intelligence (GenAI) is rapidly becoming embedded in organizational knowledge work, yet its contribution to innovation remains theoretically underexplained. This article develops a conceptual model linking GenAI adoption with organizational knowledge creation, human-AI collaboration, and innovation performance. Drawing on the knowledge-based view of the firm, organizational knowledge creation theory, absorptive capacity, and the automation–augmentation perspective, the article argues that GenAI creates value not merely through technological deployment but through the way employees interact with AI-generated outputs, combine them with tacit and explicit knowledge, and convert them into actionable organizational knowledge. Six propositions are developed. GenAI adoption is proposed to enhance both human-AI collaboration and knowledge creation; human-AI collaboration is expected to strengthen knowledge creation and innovation performance; knowledge creation is proposed to improve innovation performance and mediate the relationship between GenAI adoption and innovation outcomes. The model contributes to emerging research on GenAI by positioning knowledge processes and human-AI complementarity as central mechanisms through which organizations can translate AI capabilities into innovation