Understanding digital hoarding: conceptual framework and future research based on a scoping review
摘要
Digital hoarding has become a common practice with profound personal and organizational implications, yet it remains underexplored. This article presents a scoping review that examines the emerging phenomenon of digital hoarding, integrating literature on digital possessions to develop a robust conceptual model. Through the analysis of individual, psychological, and contextual factors, as well as motivations (sentimental, instrumental, control-related, and identity-based) and associated consequences, a typology of digital hoarders is proposed, distributed along a continuum of behaviors ranging from common forms to more problematic expressions. The review identifies significant limitations in the field: a scarcity of empirical studies, a predominance of research focused on specific types of content (such as photographs), and a theoretical approach anchored in physical hoarding models that fail to capture the unique characteristics of the digital environment. The resulting model offers not only an integrative theoretical foundation for future research but also a practical guide for designing individual and organizational interventions. By recognizing the coexistence of multiple types of digital content in diverse contexts, the study advocates for a contextual and dynamic approach to this phenomenon. This research contributes to making digital hoarding visible as a complex behavior influenced by psychological, technological, and social variables one whose understanding is crucial in an era defined by information overabundance and virtually unlimited storage capacity.