Digital stress, employee performance, and mental well-being: examining the moderated mediation role of social media use

Introduction The rapid digitalisation of workplaces has transformed organisational processes, creating new opportunities alongside new demands for employees. Digital stress has emerged as a critical challenge for employees' psychological well-being and job performance, yet empirical evidence on the integrated effects of digital stress and social media use remains limited. Methods Survey data were collected from 386 banking employees and the proposed moderated mediation model was analysed using partial least squares structural equation modelling (PLS-SEM). Results Digital stress exerted a significant negative effect on both mental well-being and employee performance. Mental well-being positively influenced employee performance and partially mediated the relationship between digital stress and performance. Social media use significantly moderated the mediated pathway, such that purposeful, work-related use strengthened employees' psychological resilience under conditions of digital stress. Discussion The findings extend Job Demands-Resources (JD-R) theory by conceptualising purposeful and supportive social media use as a job resource for coping with digital stress. Organisations should therefore encourage deliberate, work-related and supportive use of social media while discouraging excessive or non-work-related use