Connectivity without belonging: human-technology interaction and the loneliness paradox of digital work

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Workers in contemporary organizations are more digitally connected than ever before, yet growing evidence suggests that constant connection does not necessarily produce a stronger sense of belonging. This paper examines what we call the loneliness paradox of digital work, the condition in which continuous communication coexists with a weakening of professional relationships. Existing workplace loneliness models explain why employees feel disconnected when contact is limited, or relationships are poor. The present paper addresses a different question, namely how loneliness emerges and persists when interaction remains frequent and continuous. The paper introduces the concept of organizational loneliness as a digital-work-specific refinement of workplace loneliness, which is defined as the experience of feeling insufficiently connected to meaningful workplace relationships under conditions of frequent digital interaction. This construct is derived from sociotechnical systems theory, the Job Demands-Resources framework, and belongingness theory. Four mechanisms are proposed: relational thinning, reduced spontaneous affirmation, weak relational continuity, and symbolic presence without emotional availability. Together these mechanisms provide a framework for understanding organizational loneliness in digitally mediated work. Organizational loneliness is distinguished from burnout, technostress, low engagement, and social isolation, and a conceptual model and six testable hypotheses are presented. The model is intentionally modular, so that individual mechanisms can be examined independently before the full pathway is tested. Organizational loneliness is positioned as a psychosocial risk linked to the design of digital work rather than as a problem located only within the individual employee. As artificial intelligence increasingly takes over coordination activities that previously involved incidental human interaction, the importance of this issue is likely to grow.

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