Impact
Evidence that travels into theory, practice and policy
ICON produces results across three scientific fields, a free public tool for reflective AI use, and guidance that speaks directly to the EU AI Act’s provisions on human oversight.
Fields
Scientific impact
This interdisciplinary project lies at the intersection of entrepreneurship, cognitive psychology and information science. The results will impact all three fields.
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Field 01
Entrepreneurship
The first investigation of this type empirically introduces AI into entrepreneurial cognition and moves the field beyond conceptual discussion toward empirical examination. Results grounded in real entrepreneurial practice provide a basis for a theory of digitally scaffolded entrepreneurial cognition, advance the study of entrepreneurial metacognition as a process, and provide the first cross-cultural validation of the phenomenon in the field.
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Field 02
Cognitive psychology
The project extends metacognition theory into an AI-augmented context, offering new insights into external and distributed cognition and their integration through digital scaffolding, including how entrepreneurs evaluate and calibrate trust in external cognitive agents.
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Field 03
Information science & HAI
Existing human–AI interaction insights are valuable but fragmented, often focusing on isolated constructs such as trust, reliance and metacognitive sensitivity, and examining them statically. ICON adopts a process-oriented, integrative perspective, bringing the process tradition of entrepreneurship research into IS and supporting the shift in HAI research from technology-centric towards more human-centred approaches.
Policy
European alignment
Potential policy impacts derive from the project’s congruence with the EU’s imperatives from Shaping Europe’s Digital Future and the AI Innovation Package for improving AI in a business context.
The results support the EU’s ambition to become an AI Continent with a strong AI innovation ecosystem. The research also directly speaks to Article 14 of the EU AI Act on human oversight, particularly its provisions on interpreting AI outputs appropriately and remaining aware of automation bias.
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Beneficiary 01
Entrepreneurs
Guidance on calibrating trust in AI, reducing the risks of uncritical dependence and over-reliance, and addressing other cognitive risks associated with AI use.
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Beneficiary 02
Firms
Improved governance of AI-related risks and better-supported business decision-making.
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Beneficiary 03
The AI industry
Knowledge to support the calibration of AI agents to users’ different cognitive profiles.
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Beneficiary 04
Policy & education
Support for the digital transition, entrepreneurship education and ecosystem policy.
Governance
Ethics & regulatory
The planned research has received a positive opinion from the Ethics Committee of the University of Zagreb Faculty of Organization and Informatics.
Classification 602-11/26-25/1 · Registry number 2186-62-14-26-11. The Committee concluded that the research is ethically acceptable and in accordance with the guidelines of the University of Zagreb Code of Ethics.
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