Evaluating advantages and disadvantages of twin avatar-based management: A multicriteria framework for assessing organizational impacts

Abstract

Digital technologies are reshaping managerial decision-making by enabling new forms of interaction, simulation and action in increasingly immersive virtual environments. Among these technologies, Twin Avatars (TAs) (i.e., Artificial Intelligence (AI)-enabled digital representations of real individuals) are emerging as a potentially disruptive managerial tool with implications for organizational design, leadership and the future of work. By enabling enhanced digital presence, real-time interaction and scenario exploration, TAs can support faster and more adaptive decision-making in complex environments. Despite their growing relevance, research on the managerial implications of TA-based management remains limited. This study develops an analytic system to identify, structure and analyze key advantages and disadvantages associated with TA-based management. Adopting a constructivist perspective, the research combines the Nominal Group Technique (NGT) and DEcision MAking Trial and Evaluation Laboratory (DEMATEL) under a neutrosophic logic framework, allowing for the explicit treatment of uncertainty and causal interdependencies among relevant factors. The analytic system was developed through facilitated expert sessions and subsequently consolidated by an independent expert. The results identify influential advantages and disadvantages of TA-based management and reveal the perceived causal relationships among them. The study advances understanding of how agentic AI-enabled technologies may influence organizational decision-making and provides a structured basis for evaluating the organizational implications of TA-based management.