PSYCHOSOCIAL DETERMINANTS OF ORGANIZATIONAL CONFLICT IN A DIGITAL WORK ENVIRONMENT: A NARRATIVE REVIEW

Abstract

Digital transformation has reshaped both organizational technologies and the social dynamics of work. This structured narrative review examines how technostress, communication asymmetry, role ambiguity, information overload or scarcity, emotional exhaustion, and limited interpersonal cues contribute to conflict in digitally mediated workplaces. Drawing on peer-reviewed studies and institutional documents published mainly between 2000 and 2025, the review focuses on remote and hybrid work, virtual teams, psychosocial risks, digital leadership, and public-sector modernization. A transparent search strategy, thematic synthesis, and source-quality assessment were applied. The findings reveal that digitalization can enhance autonomy, flexibility, learning, and access to information, but may also intensify cognitive demands, weaken work-life boundaries, reduce trust, and heighten sensitivity to conflict. An integrated framework is proposed in which digital work design affects conflict through fatigue, resilience, fairness perceptions, and trust, while leadership, organizational support, digital competence, autonomy, and clear communication moderate these effects. Georgian public-sector reforms are used as institutional illustrations without implying unsupported causality. The review concludes with recommendations for psychosocial risk assessment, communication governance, digital-disconnection policies, participatory change management, managerial development, and early conflict detection.