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Phantom AI Effect in Remote Creative Collaboration: Misattribution of Human Creativity to AI in South African Virtual Teams

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  • Mdhlalose, Dickson

Abstract

This study examines the 'Phantom AI effect', a cognitive bias wherein members of remote creative teams mistakenly attribute human-generated ideas or feedback to Artificial Intelligence (AI) in the absence of any AI use. As generative AI tools become prevalent in South African workplaces, this misattribution poses unexamined psychosocial risks. Using a sample of 412 South African creative professionals and Structural Equation Modelling (SEM) with AMOS, the study finds that Phantom AI attribution significantly reduces team trust (β = -0.52, p

Suggested Citation

  • Mdhlalose, Dickson, 2026. "Phantom AI Effect in Remote Creative Collaboration: Misattribution of Human Creativity to AI in South African Virtual Teams," EconStor Preprints 341853, ZBW - Leibniz Information Centre for Economics.
    • Handle: RePEc:zbw:esprep:341853
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    File URL: https://www.econstor.eu/bitstream/10419/341853/1/PhantomArticle.pdf
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    Keywords

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    JEL classification:

    • O33 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Innovation; Research and Development; Technological Change; Intellectual Property Rights - - - Technological Change: Choices and Consequences; Diffusion Processes
    • D91 - Microeconomics - - Micro-Based Behavioral Economics - - - Role and Effects of Psychological, Emotional, Social, and Cognitive Factors on Decision Making
    • M15 - Business Administration and Business Economics; Marketing; Accounting; Personnel Economics - - Business Administration - - - IT Management
    • J24 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demand and Supply of Labor - - - Human Capital; Skills; Occupational Choice; Labor Productivity
    • C38 - Mathematical and Quantitative Methods - - Multiple or Simultaneous Equation Models; Multiple Variables - - - Classification Methdos; Cluster Analysis; Principal Components; Factor Analysis

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