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Based on the social penetration theory and affect theory of social exchange, this study aims to examine the relationship between authentic leadership (AL) and workplace loneliness (WL), as well as the mediating effect of interactional justice (IJ) on this relationship during the COVID-19 pandemic in the US higher education sector.

An online, self-administrated questionnaire was distributed to full-time employees working at higher education institutions in the USA. A total of 464 employees participated in the survey, with structural equation modeling being used to analyze the data.

The outcomes provide evidence that AL is positively related to IJ, whereas the latter is negatively associated with WL. Moreover, IJ fully mediates the relationship between AL and WL. Overall, the findings underline the importance of IJ in affecting employee WL.

The outcomes provide valuable insights for higher education leaders and HR professionals in reducing employee WL. In particular to this end, it is recommended that organizations focus on improving employee IJ and AL perceptions. Furthermore, higher education organizations need to select and promote leaders who exhibit IJ behaviors and AL characteristics. In addition, organizations could offer IJ and AL training to their current leaders.

This study contributes to the limited literature on WL by offering a unique research model that examines IJ as a mediating variable between AL and WL. In addition, it adds to the literature by investigating WL in the context of US higher education sector, which is an understudied area in this research context.

At the dawn of a new decade, as ever more corporations are pursuing sustainable working conditions and advocating employee well-being, employees are increasingly tending to feel fatigued and drained by their work, which compromises their performance. Drawing on the job demands–resources model and social acceleration debate, the authors test a moderated mediation model. Specifically, the authors hypothesise that unreasonable tasks raise perceptions of emotional exhaustion when the pace of work is increased and investigate the moderating role of psychological detachment.

This study used a sample of 245 employees from Europe, all knowledge workers, to test the hypotheses.

Apart from unreasonable tasks being directly related with emotional exhaustion, this relationship was mediated by the perceived work pace. In addition, the authors establish psychological detachment as a relevant moderator for the mediating effect.

Managers and HR practitioners are equipped with a better understanding of the effects of an increasing speed of work, the conditions leading to it and the individual and organizational resources that may help to create healthy and meaningful job positions, which facilitate employee efficiency.

Our study expands the literature on contemporary stressors and adds to what is known about the ‘dark side’ of job demands that affect the organizational bottom-line, as well as the resource-based mechanism that can buffer the negative effects.