Agnieszka Wojcik-Czerniawska

SGH- Warsaw School of Economics, Poland

Title: Beyond Human Capital: Women Governing Intelligent Systems

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Biography

PhD Agnieszka Wójcik-Czerniawska is an academic researcher and lecturer specializing in the digital economy, financial and managerial governance, and the ethical dimensions of intelligent systems. Her research explores how artificial intelligence, algorithmic management, and data-driven decision-making reshape economic power structures, leadership authority, and accountability. A central focus of her work is the role of women in the economy—not only as participants in digital transformation, but as decision-makers governing intelligent systems, markets, and institutions. She is the author of research on human resource innovations in the e-economy and on synthetic intelligence and ethical economic systems, emphasizing governance beyond traditional human capital frameworks. Her interdisciplinary interests connect management, finance, technology ethics, and gender-aware economic governance, addressing how women’s leadership contributes to responsible innovation, long-term value creation, and inclusive yet authoritative economic systems. PhD Agnieszka Wójcik-Czerniawska actively participates in international research initiatives and conferences on digital governance and the future of work.

Abstract

The accelerating integration of artificial intelligence and data-driven technologies is transforming how decisions are made, power is exercised, and value is created within contemporary economies. While research on women’s leadership has traditionally emphasized human capital, representation, and skills acquisition, considerably less attention has been paid to women’s roles in the governance of intelligent systems themselves. The objective of this paper is to reframe the discourse from inclusion toward authority, examining how women participate in the oversight, regulation, and ethical steering of AI-enabled systems.

The scope of the study spans organizational, market, and policy dimensions of the digital economy. It draws on interdisciplinary perspectives from management studies, digital governance, financial economics, and ethical AI scholarship. Methodologically, the paper adopts a conceptual-analytical approach, supported by a structured literature review and comparative analysis of existing governance frameworks. Selected illustrative cases from finance, platform-based business models, and algorithmic management are used to contextualize theoretical insights. As part of the analysis, a governance framework is proposed that distinguishes between operational use of AI and higher-level decision rights related to system design, accountability, and risk control.

The results indicate that women’s leadership exerts the greatest systemic impact at the governance layer of intelligent systems rather than at the level of technical implementation. Female participation in oversight and decision-making structures is associated with greater emphasis on transparency, ethical accountability, long-term risk assessment, and societal impact. These findings suggest that conventional diversity metrics focused on workforce participation fail to capture where power in AI-driven systems is actually exercised.

The paper concludes that advancing women’s leadership in the age of intelligent systems requires moving beyond human capital narratives toward systemic governance and control. Ensuring women’s access to decision rights over algorithms, data infrastructures, and AI-driven economic mechanisms is essential for building responsible, accountable, and sustainable digital economies.