---
id: "claim-leaders-overestimate-enthusiasm"
type: "claim"
source_timestamps: ["§ The Underappreciated Power of Perception"]
tags: ["leadership", "survey-data"]
related: ["concept-seniority-perception-gap"]
confidence: "high"
testable: true
speakers: ["Jan-Emmanuel De Neve", "Jeffrey T. Hancock", "Kate Niederhoffer"]
sources: ["spine"]
sourceVaultSlug: "hbr-seg-spine"
originDay: 1
articleStem: "hbr-ext-19-augmentation-over-automation"
sourceUrl: "https://hbr.org/2026/04/why-companies-that-choose-ai-augmentation-over-automation-may-win-in-the-long-run"
sourceTitle: "Why Companies That Choose AI Augmentation Over Automation May Win in the Long Run"
---
# Leaders Vastly Overestimate Employee AI Enthusiasm

**Claim.** External survey data show that while **76% of executives** believe employees are enthusiastic about AI adoption, only **31% of individual contributors** agree. This dovetails with the authors' own survey documenting a massive gap in how senior leaders vs. frontline workers perceive the organization's ultimate intent with AI — the [[concept-seniority-perception-gap|Seniority Gap in AI Perception]].

**Confidence:** high · **Testable:** yes.

**Enrichment & external validation.** Supported by proprietary survey data reported in HBR and secondary summaries. The exact percentages are **not broadly replicated**, but the qualitative pattern — executive optimism vs. frontline skepticism — is consistent with multiple external technology-change-management surveys (e.g., [[entity-org-indeed|Indeed]]'s finding that AI-saved time is mostly reinvested in "more of the same tasks"). Caveat: the "76% vs. 31%" gap is likely **context- and sample-specific**; organizations with strong participation, transparency, and governance practices may see narrower gaps.