The relationship between AI anxiety and work engagement among early childhood teachers: a moderated mediation model of job crafting and perceived organizational support.

As artificial intelligence (AI) technology has been deeply integrated into early childhood education, the technological transformation has brought both opportunities and adaptive pressure to early childhood teachers. AI anxiety has accordingly become a prominent factor impacting teachers' work engagement. Based on the conservation of resources theory, this study constructed a moderated mediation model to examine the association between AI anxiety and work engagement among early childhood teachers, as well as the roles of job crafting and perceived organizational support. Questionnaires were distributed to 933 early childhood teachers, and the collected data were analyzed to verify the proposed model. The results indicated that AI anxiety was negatively associated with work engagement among early childhood teachers. Job crafting mediated the link between AI anxiety and work engagement, while perceived organizational support moderated the relationship between AI anxiety and job crafting. Promoting early childhood teachers' work engagement requires the mitigation of AI anxiety, the strengthening of perceived organizational support, and the cultivation of job crafting. This study provides empirical evidence and practical implications for alleviating AI anxiety and enhancing work engagement among early childhood teachers.