This study is designed to examine the impact of innovative resources comprising internal innovative resources and collaborative innovation networks on the tendency to use artificial intelligence (AI) within organizations. The present research proposes an integrated theoretical framework grounded in the synthesis of the Resource-Based View (RBV) and Strategic Choice Theory. Within this framework, innovative resources are positioned as the primary and central drivers, while organizational factors including organizational digital culture and the “Not-Invented-Here” syndrome and environmental factors particularly environmental instability serve as moderating variables. The research adopts a descriptive-correlational design with a quantitative approach. Data were collected from 390 employees and managers of insurance branches in East Azerbaijan Province, Iran, in the year 1404 (2025). The data collection instrument consists of standardized questionnaires based on validated measurement scales drawn from the existing literature. Data analysis was performed using Structural Equation Modeling (SEM) in SmartPLS 4 software, and model reliability and validity indices were confirmed as satisfactory. Findings indicate that both types of innovative resources internal and network-based exert a positive and significant influence on the tendency to adopt AI. Environmental instability negatively moderates these relationships, whereas organizational digital culture positively strengthens them. Furthermore, the NIH syndrome demonstrates a dual effect: on one hand, it enhances the relationship between internal innovative resources and AI tendency by reinforcing organizational self-reliance; on the other hand, it weakens the link between collaborative innovation networks and AI tendency due to resistance against external ideas. The novelty of this research lies in the development and empirical validation of a conceptual model that prioritizes innovative resources as the foundational basis of AI orientation, while simultaneously examining within a unified framework the moderating roles of environmental, cultural, and cognitive factors in a data-sensitive industry: insurance. These findings not only enrich the theoretical literature on digital strategy, innovation, and technology adoption but also provide practical, evidence-based guidance for the effective design and implementation of AI strategies in service-oriented organizations.