Perceived value of artificial intelligence by public sector blue-collar worker in the Johannesburg Metropolitan Public Sector (JMPS)

The purpose of this study was to explore the perceived value of AI by public sector blue-collar workers in the Public Sector. The study opted for a quantitative survey method for data collection using both online cross-sectional closed-question, and paper-form questionnaires. Three main hypotheses were utilised to investigate the relationship between the general attitudes of different subgroups of blue-collar workers and their willingness to adopt AI usage towards the enhancement of service delivery. Four other hypotheses tested the relationship between service delivery, AI, and Human Resource (HR) management support for AI education. The sample consisted of 205 workers. The Statistical Package for Social Sciences was used to capture and analyse the collected data. The descriptive statistics analysis showed that the data was reliable, consistent, and valid between a 95 and 99% confidence limit. The willingness to adopt AI usage constructs versus the information, communication, and technology automation factor in the human resources management support construct showed poor Pearson’s and poor Spearman correlation coefficients. Blue-collar workers showed unwillingness towards automation and the use of AI in routine jobs at the workplace. There was a positive attitude towards the use of AI to enhance perceived value, provided it is not used for blue-collar workers' routine jobs.