Helping hand or hindering hand? Matching cognitive styles with intelligent assistants influences hospitality employees’ work well-being

With the rapid development of digital intelligence technology, intelligent assistants have become a key technology driving social progress and affecting various industries, including hospitality. This study used the job demands–resources model as the basis of three progressive experiments (N = 150, 202, and 314, respectively) to explore the impact of the degree of cognitive style matching between intelligent assistants and hospitality employees on work well-being and its underlying mechanisms. The findings indicated that employees with both adaptor and innovator cognitive styles perceived greater work well-being when the cognitive style of the intelligent assistant matched (vs. mismatched) theirs; moreover, cognitive dissonance and work energy played mediating roles in the aforementioned relationships. Our results enrich the literature on intelligent assistants in the hospitality industry from a management perspective and provide practical references for hospitality managers to effectively use intelligent assistants and guide employee management.