PurposeOnline medical teams (OMTs) are gaining popularity as a new form of online health service to provide patients with prompt and guaranteed treatment. While the effective development of an OMT depends on physicians’ active participation, there is insufficient research on how a doctor gains from the OMT, especially from the multilevel and cross-level perspectives. In attempting to narrow this knowledge gap, the authors hypothesize multilevel and cross-level professional capital determinants of physicians’ performance in online health-care communities (OHCs) through the lens of social exchange theory.Design/methodology/approachThis study develops a cross-level model to explain the effects of individual and team professional capital on physicians’ performance. To test the research model and hypotheses, the authors leverage data of 10,398 physicians engaged in 2,611 popular OMTs in China in conjunction with the hierarchical linear model approach.FindingsThe results indicated that physicians’ status capital (SC) and decisional capital (DC) are positively related to their performance. The SC and DC of an OMT not only increase physicians’ performance but also indirectly strengthen the positive effect of physicians’ SC on their performance. In contrast, OMTs’ SC and DC lessen the importance of physicians’ DC in promoting their performance.Originality/valueBy studying the mechanism between professional capital and physicians’ performance, this study provides several contributions to theory and practice. Specifically, this study contributes to the extant professional capital research by uncovering the influencing pathways of professional capital on physicians’ performance from a cross-level perspective. These findings suggest physicians pay close attention to the strength and mechanism of OMTs’ professional capital in improving their online performance.

The impact of individual and team professional capital on physicians' performance in online health-care communities: a cross-level investigation

In recent years, charities have become involved in many online medical crowdfunding projects as fundraising agents. To reveal whether and why the involvement of charities influences medical crowdfunding performance, this study conducts a sequential exploratory-explanatory research design with two main studies. By collecting 22,805 projects from the Chinese Tencent GongYi platform, the first study utilizes propensity score matching (PSM) to investigate which type of initiators (individuals vs. charities) have better crowdfunding performance. The results show that the initiator type is an essential predictor of medical crowdfunding, and projects launched by charities keep better performance than those by individuals. Upon the findings of the first study, the second study is performed to inspect why charities make more contributions than individual fundraisers. The impacts of charities’ reputations and social capital on medical crowdfunding performance are examined based on the elaboration likelihood model (ELM) and social capital theory. The results suggest that charities’ reputations and multidimensional social capital play essential roles in endorsing crowdfunding fundraising (fundraising performance) and appealing to donors’ attention (participation performance). In addition, the disease type moderates the relationship between charities’ reputation or social capital and crowdfunding performance. Our research provides in-depth insight into the impact of charities’ involvement on medical crowdfunding and generates important implications for medical crowdfunding practices. 

Does the involvement of charities matter? Exploring the impact of charities' reputation and social capital on medical crowdfunding performance

Given the widespread adoption of artificial intelligence technologies in the healthcare industry, efficient healthcare delivery has become increasingly important. In creating a patient-centered and engaging technology, the omnichannel healthcare model has expanded to allow consumers access to online health communities, including physician-led online medical teams (OMTs). To help ensure the continued growth of this emerging omnichannel touchpoint, we develop a three-level theoretical model using a combination of hierarchical linear modeling and panel data identification to analyze a large-scale longitudinal dataset consisting of 2,185 physicians across 1,400 OMTs. In line with self-determination theory, we identify physician-level (i.e., intrinsic and extrinsic) and team-level (i.e., social interaction ties) motivational drivers of physician engagement, along with managerially relevant boundary conditions. Based on our findings, we suggest a multi-level strategy for ensuring the continued growth and success of OMTs in facilitating value co-creation between health providers and patients. 

Physician engagement in online medical teams: A multilevel investigation

This study explores the determinants of members’ participation intention in online health communities (OHC) from both the facilitators and barriers points of view. From the facilitators perspective, each member’s subjective well-being plays a crucial role in sharing intention. On the other hand, from the barriers point of view, social network site exhaustion would negatively affect. The survey was conducted on two online support groups, including parents of children with autism spectrum disorder and caregivers of dementia disease. This study collected 330 questionnaires from social network sites to examine the research model. The results showed that social support positively affects members’ self-efficacy; in turn, self-efficacy has a positive effect on subjective well-being. Overload has an impact on psychological distress. Moreover, members’ subjective well-being determined their knowledge sharing intention.

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Exploring member’s knowledge sharing intention in online health communities: The effects of social support and overload

PurposeOnline health communities (OHCs) have been recognized as emerging platforms on the Internet used for health purposes. Despite its emergence, developing a successful OHC is still a challenge. Prior studies identified that value co-creation behavior (VCB) of members is an essential factor for sustaining OHCs; however, little is known about how members’ behavior drives to co-create value? Therefore, this study aims to discover the inclusive mechanism for members’ VCB in OHCs.Design/methodology/approachThe authors develop the study model and hypothesis based on the service-dominant logic of value co-creation theory and social support (SS) literature. The survey data of 608 active OHCs users in China were analyzed using partial least squares structural equation modeling (PLS-SEM).FindingsThe results revealed that SS positively affects members’ VCBs. Ethical aspects; Trust and ethical interaction (EI) partially mediate their relationships. In addition, community members’ current health status (CHS) negatively moderates the relationships between SS and VCB. From the findings, it becomes evident that only SS is not enough; developing an ethical environment in OHCs, i.e. trust and ethically rich interactions among members, significantly helps OHCs to promote co-creation. Also, the negative moderation of CHS findings provides novel insights when cramming health conditions.Originality/valueExploring the complex mechanism of co-creation in OHC, the authors illustrate the potential of service-dominant logic to create new theoretical insight for healthcare and provide the framework of co-creation with ethics for the first time. This will extend the application of ethics in healthcare services and offer a robust platform from which the understanding of drivers of members’ VCB can be advanced in the OHC context.

Do ethics drive value co-creation behavior in online health communities?

Group service in online health communities (OHCs) is a novel form of service where physicians can share knowledge and collaborate with others to provide better services to patients through the Internet. Although many literatures have explored the impact of individual group joining behavior on group performance, few researches have been done on the relationship between individual group joining behavior and their personal performance. To fill this gap, we examine the effect of individual group joining behavior on their online demand and reputation using a unique panel dataset of 8,069 physicians from a large online health community in China. In addition, how the effects differ among physicians with different clinic titles are explored and several robustness checks including propensity score matching analyses are conducted to control for self-selection among physicians. The results show that, physicians’ group joining behavior and the person-group fit will positively affect their online demand and reputation. Furthermore, we find that physicians’ clinic title has a negative moderating effect.

Xiaohan Wang

Papers

Join or not: The impact of physicians’ group joining behavior on their online demand and reputation in online health communities