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Mohammad Talha Siddiqui1 and Yusuf Kamal1

First Published 15 Sep 2026. https://doi.org/10.1177/25819542261479531
Article Information
Corresponding Author:

Mohammad Talha Siddiqui, University of Lucknow, Uttar Pradesh, India
Email: siddiqui_talha@lkouniv.ac.in

1University of Lucknow, Uttar Pradesh, India

This article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 License (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/) which permits non-commercial use, reproduction and distribution of the work without further permission provided the original work is attributed as specified on the SAGE and Open Access page (https://us.sagepub.com/en-us/nam/open-access-at-sage).

Abstract

This study proposes the Responsible Autonomy Framework (RAF), a layered governance architecture for agentic artificial intelligence (AI) in e-business. The RAF integrates operational efficiency, strategic adaptability, and responsible oversight into a single layered model. Using a conceptual research design grounded in an integrative literature review, agency theory, and sociotechnical systems thinking, the study develops a three-layer model comprising operational autonomy, strategic autonomy, and responsible autonomy. In which responsibility acts as the governing layer rather than an afterthought. The review finds that existing governance frameworks address transparency, accountability, or fairness largely in isolation, with none spanning the full path from operational automation to embedded governance, while the RAF addresses this by treating responsible design as a condition for sustainable autonomy rather than a competing value to be balanced against it. The framework offers managers actionable guidance for deploying agentic AI responsibly and offers regulators a structured basis for balancing innovation with oversight, while extending agency theory and sociotechnical systems theory through a reconceptualisation of agentic AI as a sociotechnical principal-cum-agent.

Keywords

Responsible autonomy framework (RAF), agentic artificial intelligence (AI), e-business, operational autonomy, strategic autonomy, explainable AI (XAI)

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