The Relativity of Work: A Theory of Spacetime Sentiment (TS²)

This paper proposes that the major constructs in organizational psychology — engagement, burnout, satisfaction, commitment, involvement, flow — are partial measurements of a single unrecognized mediating variable: spacetime sentiment (TS²), defined as the subjective perception of time's passage relative to the organism's concurrent sentiment toward its present activity. The theory is grounded in psychophysics (Weber's Law, Scalar Expectancy Theory), formalized using compositional mathematics (total and partial function composition), and situated within the behavioral science tradition (respondent-operant distinction). The framework generates specific predictions about when multiplicative composition should be detectable (imposed temporal structure, moment-level granularity) and when it should not (chosen temporal structure, aggregate measurement). Implications for organizational measurement, discriminant validity, experience sampling methodology, and cross-species behavior are discussed. A companion empirical paper tests eight predictions across four publicly available datasets (DOI: 10.5281/zenodo.19207887).