BACKGROUND

Digital leadership might be an innovative approach to decreasing the elevated rates of anxiety and depression symptoms among medical professionals, while also enhancing their psychological well-being. This emerging pathway may offer promising strategies to support the mental health of medical professionals. This study seeks to investigate the association among digital leadership, organizational identity, family-work conflict, and anxiety and depression symptoms, and further to uncover the underlying moderating mechanisms interplay.

METHODS

A cross-sectional online survey with 657 valid data were collected from four tertiary hospitals in Harbin, Heilongjiang Province, China, with a response rate of 69.3%. The statistical analysis was conducted employing IBM SPSS Statistics 22.0. Hierarchical regression analysis was performed to scrutinize the pertinent factors associated with anxiety and depression symptoms among medical professionals, while also evaluating the moderating influence of organizational identity and family-work conflict on the nexus among those.

RESULTS

The prevalence of anxiety and depression symptoms among medical professionals was 50.1%. Anxiety and depression symptoms were negatively correlated with digital leadership (r= -0.278, p < 0.01) and organizational identity (r = - 0.318, p < 0.01), and positively correlated with family-work conflict (r = 0.445, p < 0.01). Organizational identity (β = - 0.938, p < 0.05) and family-work conflict (β = 0.698, p < 0.05) moderate the relationship between digital leadership and anxiety and depression symptoms; The results of the simple slope analysis indicated that high organizational identity and low family-work conflict strengthened the effect of digital leadership on anxiety and depression symptoms among Chinese medical professionals.

CONCLUSIONS

The prevalence of anxiety and depression symptoms among medical professionals was noted to be high. This study posits that strengthening digital leadership could apparently improve anxiety and depression symptoms among medical professionals. Moreover, it highlights the moderating role of organizational identity and family-work conflict in the relationship between digital leadership and anxiety and depression symptoms. These discoveries underscore the significance of implementing support and interventions to enhance the mental well-being of medical professionals, encompassing the cultivation of organizational identity, reduction of family-work conflict, and acknowledgment of the potential role of digital leadership in addressing mental health challenges.