Beyond skills: building work environments that foster social love

This article examines whether and how work environments can foster social love, understood as a relational practice grounded in care, recognition, cooperation, and overabundance beyond instrumental exchange. Drawing on economic–managerial studies on love and agapic behaviour in organizations and sociological theories of social love, the paper analyses an experimental field study involving 200 young professionals from three Italian organizations. Participants were organized into heterogeneous and homogeneous work groups according to socio-emotional profiles assessed through standardized instruments, including BES, IRI, HSC, and BESSI. The groups collaborated on a project concerning the role of human relations in respect of artificial intelligence across three environments: face-to-face, online, and immersive virtual reality. Data were collected through focus groups, individual logbooks, peer evaluation, and lexical–thematic analysis supported by T-LAB. The findings show that relational quality emerged progressively through transitions from uncertainty to orientation, from diversity to cooperation, and from individual contributions to shared decisions. Face-to-face interaction proved particularly effective for trust, empathy, and decision-making, while digital and immersive environments supported coordination and engagement but required greater relational adaptation. The study concludes that social love is not reducible to individual soft skills but can develop within organizational interactions when work settings enable trust, solidarity, and mutual recognition.