Private Social Media for Work in Hospitality: Impacts on Employee Digital Well-Being and the Promise of Positive Psychology Interventions

Private social media increasingly blurs work-life boundaries for Chinese hospitality employees. To examine how the use of private social media for work affects the digital well-being of hospitality employees, we employed the DREAMA model (detachment-recovery, engagement, affiliation, meaning, achievement) to investigate this issue through semistructured interviews and focus group discussions. Our analysis reveals four distinct usage scenarios in which private social media affects employee well-being, involving enhanced communication efficiency and social connectivity, alongside significant stress from boundary erosion and constant availability expectations. We developed targeted positive psychology interventions addressing boundary management, digital detachment practices, and employee digital rights protection. Our findings contribute a novel conceptual framework for understanding employee digital well-being while offering practical strategies and policy recommendations to support best practices that preserve both operational efficiency and employee digital well-being.