Tensions of Occupational Identity and Patterns of Identity Protection: Preliminary Insights on Generative AI in the Software Engineering Domain

Abstract

The adoption of Generative Artificial Intelligence (GenAI) in organizations calls into question implications for workers’ roles and domain expertise. While the impact of GenAI on human work is much debated, it is unclear how this paradigm shift is experienced by affected workers. In our qualitative study, we build on the theoretical lenses of occupational identity and self-determination theory to understand how and why software engineers make sense of GenAI for their own occupation. We find that engineers’ identity work, i.e., the process of dealing with the impact of GenAI for their own work, is contingent on domain experience: juniors and seniors felt their needs for competence, autonomy, and relatedness to be differently impacted by GenAI. We shed light on the importance of identity work’s role in preserving engineers’ tacit domain knowledge. We illustrate the organization’s role in further shaping engineers’ identity work.

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