Can Employee Well-Being Be Fostered Through a Digital Community? 'Professing" as a Practice of Professional Expression and Experience Sharing in the Digital Age

This study examines whether and how intra organizational digital communities can foster employee well-being, while proposing a novel theoretical concept “Professing” as a practice of expressing and sharing professional experiences in digital spaces. Inspired by fundamental questions in the social sciences concerning identity, belonging, and support, the study focuses on how digital technologies reshape work experience and modes of professional expression. Based on qualitative interviews with nurses participating in a closed digital community within the largest healthcare organization in Israel, the study analyzes professing as a practice of discourse, recognition, and meaning making. The findings indicate that professing contributes to emotional support, enhanced sense of belonging, and increased professional self-efficacy key components of workplace well-being—alongside tensions related to professional identity management and information overload. The study demonstrates how this empirical case enables a broader understanding of the role of digital practices in shaping workplace well-being in the digital age.