Introduction - The implementation of advanced IT and widespread digital transformation in the workplace has brought lots of significant benefits, including enhancing productivity and efficiency. Nevertheless, people also confront the dark sides of IT use, among which the most concerning phenomenon is technostress. This type of technology-induced stressors could make employees feel severely lonely in the workplace.
Purpose: The current study is to investigate the impact of technostress on employees' loneliness in the workplace, with focus on the mediating mechanism of organizational dehumanization and the buffering effect of employees' exposure to natural environments.
Method - A time-lag designed study was conducted, and data were collected from 340 employees across various industries and companies in China.
Results - The results showed that technostress was positively related to employees' workplace loneliness, and organizational dehumanization significantly mediated the positive relationship. Moreover, employees' nature exposure was found to moderate the indirect relationship between technostress and employees' workplace loneliness via organizational dehumanization, such that the indirect relationship is weaker when nature exposure is high (vs. low).


Conclusion - Our findings demonstrate that nature exposure can mitigate the impact of technostress on employees' loneliness through alleviating their experience of dehumanization in the workplace. This study would provide insight into our understanding of human-technology interaction in contemporary work contexts, and offers practical implications for employers and employees seeking to promote well-being through increasing access to restorative natural environments.