Behind the Scene: How Experience Shapes GenAI Use in Software Engineering

The latest generations of generative artificial intelligence systems have prompted knowledge management scholars to investigate how these tools can be effectively integrated into organizational KM systems. An open research question is how work experience influences the use of AI in new knowledge creation. This paper examines how and for what purpose GenAI is employed to support the creation of new knowledge, focusing on how its use differs according to users’ seniority levels. We hypothesize that work experience affects how employees utilize GenAI to support knowledge creation. Given the study’s exploratory nature, we interviewed 22 software engineers from various companies who use GenAI systems in their daily activities. The findings of our study show differences between more and less experienced engineers, particularly with respect to the complexity of the tasks performed and the type of knowledge created with GenAI support. This contributes to our understanding of GenAI’s impact on KM and offers managerial insights for introducing and using the new technology within business contexts.