This study examines how the experience of loneliness differs between individuals in leadership positions and non-leadership individuals in different welfare regimes, and analyzes the role of social networks in this dynamic. Based on data from ISSP 2017 (n=8 158), conservative, social democratic, and liberal welfare systems are compared through comparative analysis and logistic regression. The results show that both larger and more di-versified social networks are strongly negatively correlated with perceived loneliness, regardless of leadership position or welfare regime. Individuals in leadership roles consistently exhibit lower levels of loneliness than non-leaders, but the differences vary between regimes. The conservative welfare regime shows the lowest perceived loneliness while the liberal shows the highest, with the social democratic in an intermediate position. Particularly significant is that individuals in conservative regimes report larger network size and low degree of loneliness, while the difference between leaders and non-leaders is the greatest in social democratic regimes. The study shows that loneliness is not only linked to hierarchical position, but also to social network structure and cultural context. The results contribute to a deeper understanding of managers' perceived loneliness by combining theories of social networks with welfare theoretical frameworks, which reveals how social structures affect the experience of loneliness in leadership roles.