Document Type
Article
Publication Date
7-28-2026
DOI
10.1177/19394225261472792
Publication Title
New Horizons in Adult Education and Human Resource Development
Abstract
Professionals with similar backgrounds, given identical generative AI tools, achieve sharply different outcomes. This perspectives piece examines what explains that variance, reviewing evidence on cognitive capacity, domain expertise, metacognition, epistemic calibration, personality, and culture, and argues that existing user typologies describe these differences without predicting their consequences. It then extends the puzzle in a direction the static account misses: the same individual differences that shape AI effectiveness are themselves reshaped by sustained AI use, as cognitive offloading, deskilling, and upskilling inhibition operate differently across the expertise distribution. Recent evidence, including deskilling among experienced clinicians and suppressed learning among students using unguarded AI, indicates that assisted performance and independent capability can move in opposite directions. For human resource development, this reframes AI integration from a uniform training problem into one of matching support to user profiles and protecting the conditions under which capability forms. The article closes with a research agenda that prioritizes longitudinal designs, tracking skill development and knowledge retention as AI use accumulates over time.
Rights
This deposit is the author accepted manuscript, posted under Sage's author archiving policy, which permits the accepted manuscript to be shared without embargo provided that access is free and the published article is cited.
Data Availability
Not applicable. This perspectives article involved no human participants and generated no new datasets.
ORCID
0009-0003-1982-830X
Original Publication Citation
Lovett, N. (2026). Individual differences in generative AI effectiveness: An empirical puzzle for HRD research. New Horizons in Adult Education and Human Resource Development. Advance online publication. https://doi.org/10.1177/19394225261472792
Repository Citation
Lovett, Nolan C., "Individual Differences in Generative AI Effectiveness: An Empirical Puzzle for HRD Research" (2026). Educational Leadership & Workforce Development Faculty Publications. 213.
https://digitalcommons.odu.edu/efl_fac_pubs/213
Comments
Author accepted manuscript. The Version of Record is available from Sage at https://doi.org/10.1177/19394225261472792 and should be cited in preference to this version.