Beyond physical distance: how workplace loneliness links telecommuting to cyberloafing.

Authors

Usman Ghani, Yongnian Su, Yangyang Shi, Yufei Zhou, Jin Cheng

Published in

Frontiers in psychology. Volume 17. Pages 1978751. Epub Oct 15, 2026.

Abstract

Telecommuting offers flexibility, but it may also be accompanied by fewer opportunities for everyday social connection in the workplace. Drawing on Conservation of Resources theory, this study examines how such social disconnection is associated with cyberloafing and why this process varies across employees. Using two-wave survey data from 350 employees in China with recent telecommuting experience, we found a significant indirect association between telecommuting and cyberloafing through workplace loneliness. This indirect association was weaker when employees reported higher-quality leader-member exchange or greater task interdependence. These two conditions reflect different forms of workplace resources: leader-member exchange provides relational support, whereas task interdependence sustains interaction through the organization of work itself. These findings shift attention away from whether telecommuting is inherently beneficial or harmful and toward the social resource conditions that shape employees' responses to working apart. They also offer a more nuanced view of cyberloafing as a possible short-term withdrawal-based digital response that is consistent with coping interpretations under conditions of diminished workplace connection.

PMID:
42959009
Bibliographic data and abstract were imported from PubMed on 30 Oct 2026.

Read full publication at:
Please sign in to see all details.

Stats

1-terrible, 9-excellent. How would you rate this publication? Sign in in to submit your rating.

Post a comment

You need to be signed in to post comments. You can sign in here.

Comments

There are no comments yet.