Date of Conferral

8-27-2026

Date of Award

August 2026

Degree

Ph.D.

School

Psychology

Advisor

James Herndon

Abstract

Workplace loneliness is a growing organizational challenge as the rise of distributed teams reshapes opportunities for social connection and engagement. Business leaders need to understand this challenge because it is associated with reduced belonging, lower job satisfaction, diminished productivity, and increased turnover intentions. The purpose of this quantitative correlational study was to examine the extent to which distributed team environments (remote, hybrid, or flexible) impacted workplace loneliness and whether social connectedness moderated this relationship. Social exchange theory, self-determination theory, and Weiss’s concept of loneliness grounded this study. The participants comprised 84 adults working full-time in distributed team environments across the United States. They completed the Loneliness at Work Scale and the Social Connectedness Scale-Revised. The results of the hierarchical multiple regression and moderation analyses indicated that distributed team type did not significantly predict workplace loneliness. Social connectedness emerged as a strong negative predictor, accounting for an additional 47.4% of the variance in workplace loneliness, ΔR² = .474, ΔF(1, 80) = 81.81, p < .001. The moderating effect of social connectedness was not supported, ΔR² = .022, ΔF(2, 78) = 1.90, p = .156. These findings suggest that reducing workplace loneliness in distributed teams may depend less on team type and more on fostering social connectedness among employees. Implications for tangible social impact include the potential for business leaders and industrial and organizational psychologists to cultivate social connectedness in distributed teams, reducing workplace loneliness and enhancing employee well-being in more connected, human-centered work environments.

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