The study analyzes the introduction of Microsoft 365 Copilot in a non-university research organization using a repeated cross-sectional employee survey. We assess usefulness, ease of use, output quality and reliability, and usefulness for typical knowledge-work activities. Administrative staff report higher usefulness and reliability, whereas scientific staff develop more positive assessments over time, especially regarding productivity and workload reduction. Copilot is widely viewed as user-friendly and technically reliable, with greatest added value for clearly structured, text-based tasks. The findings highlight learning and routinization effects when embedding generative AI into work processes and stress the need for context-sensitive implementation, role-specific training and governance to foster sustainable acceptance of generative AI in knowledge-intensive organizations.
@article{arxiv.2602.18576,
title = {Generative AI in Knowledge Work: Perception, Usefulness, and Acceptance of Microsoft 365 Copilot},
author = {Carsten F. Schmidt and Sophie Petzolt and Wolfgang Beinhauer and Ingo Weber and Stefan Langer},
journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:2602.18576},
year = {2026}
}