Artificial intelligence automation, augmentation, and human-centricity for firm resilience
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.7433/s129.2026.07Keywords:
firm resilience, artificial intelligence, automation space, augmentation space, human-centricity spaceAbstract
Frame of the research. Rapid advancements in artificial intelligence (AI) have fundamentally transformed how firms create and deliver value. Simultaneously, recent decades have been marked by an increasing frequency and severity of exogenous shocks; accordingly, management literature has emphasized firm resilience as a key meta-capability for firm survival. Given that AI can shape how firms sense and respond to uncertainty, it is plausible that it also plays a role in shaping firm resilience.
Purpose of the paper. This paper aims to investigate how AI and human intelligence shape the development of firm resilience.
Methodology. We develop a conceptual framework that integrates the automation and augmentation approaches to AI with established resilience micro-capabilities: redundancy, robustness, agility, flexibility, adaptability, and resourcefulness. Adopting a dialectical approach, we analyze the interrelation between AI and human intelligence in the development of these micro-capabilities.
Results. We identify three interrelated spaces (i.e., automation, augmentation, and human-centricity) for the development of firm resilience micro-capabilities. Automation primarily supports redundancy and robustness; augmentation enables agility, flexibility, and adaptability; and resourcefulness is grounded in human-centricity. The framework also elucidates how these spaces contribute to both absorptive and adaptive resilience.
Research limitations. The conceptual nature of this study calls for future empirical corroboration.
Managerial implications. This study provides managers with a conceptual map to guide the strategic orchestration of human and AI resources in building firm resilience.
Originality of the paper. This paper offers a novel and integrative perspective on firm resilience by linking AI and human intelligence to firm resilience micro-capabilities. By adopting a dialectical approach of automation, augmentation, and human-centricity, it advances current understandings of how AI can be leveraged as a foundational enabler of firm resilience.
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