Leadership Competencies and Digital Health Adoption in Healthcare Organizations: A Conceptual Framework Integrating Change Readiness and Training Effectiveness

Digital health transformation is critical for healthcare organizations, yet implementation success remains inconsistent. This paper presents a conceptual framework explicating how leadership competencies influence digital health adoption through dual mediating pathways: healthcare providers' change readiness and training effectiveness. The framework integrates Human Capital Theory, Transformational Leadership Theory, and Organizational Readiness for Change Theory. Five Leadership Practices Inventory competencies serve as antecedent factors, with change readiness encompassing psychological and behavioral preparedness, and training effectiveness evaluated through knowledge acquisition and skill application. Seven testable propositions emerge from the framework. This model advances theoretical understanding of leadership's role in healthcare digital transformation while providing practical guidance for leadership development and workforce preparation strategies aligned with digital health implementation objectives, particularly supporting Saudi Vision 2030 healthcare digitization goals.