EconPapers    
Economics at your fingertips  
 

Understanding doctors’ contribution behavior in e-health service communities: A qualitative research

Jiamin Peng, Chi Fu, Lishan Xie and Tzung-Cheng Huan

Technology in Society, 2025, vol. 81, issue C

Abstract: Doctors' contributions are crucial for the sustainable development of e-health service communities (e-HSCs). However, studies on the manifestation and formation of their behaviors in e-HSCs are limited. This study adopts a value co-creation and resource input perspective to explore how and why doctors contribute to e-HSCs, incorporating the group engagement model. Through in-depth, one-on-one online interviews with 23 doctors engaged in e-HSCs and grounded theory methodology, this study identified key manifestations of doctors' contribution behavior, which include knowledge contribution, adaptive communication and emotional care, holistic patient management, and community citizenship. Factors driving their contributions encompass the perceptions of gained resources, self-value within e-HSCs, identity considerations, and offline social connections. These findings illustrate doctors' dual motivations rooted in social identification and exchange within e-HSCs, accounting for the potential impacts of offline resources. This study provides practical insights to enhance doctors’ contribution behavior and ensure efficient e-HSC functioning, leading to societal well-being.

Keywords: e-health service communities; Doctors' contribution behavior; Value co-creation; Group engagement; Grounded theory (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2025
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0160791X25000466
Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:eee:teinso:v:81:y:2025:i:c:s0160791x25000466

DOI: 10.1016/j.techsoc.2025.102856

Access Statistics for this article

Technology in Society is currently edited by Charla Griffy-Brown

More articles in Technology in Society from Elsevier
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Catherine Liu ().

 
Page updated 2025-07-19
Handle: RePEc:eee:teinso:v:81:y:2025:i:c:s0160791x25000466