The influence of patient-generated reviews and doctor-patient relationship on online consultations in China

Yajie Hu (), Huiwen Zhou (), Yuangao Chen (), Jianrong Yao () and Jiangwu Su ()
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Yajie Hu: Zhejiang University of Finance and Economics
Huiwen Zhou: Zhejiang University of Finance and Economics
Yuangao Chen: Zhejiang University of Finance and Economics
Jianrong Yao: Zhejiang University of Finance and Economics
Jiangwu Su: Zhejiang University of Finance and Economics

Electronic Commerce Research, 2023, vol. 23, issue 2, No 17, 1115-1141

Abstract: Abstract Online reviews are increasingly being used and researched by people worldwide. Compared with previous studies on traditional products or services, research focused on online health communities (OHCs) is still insufficient. Thus, based on cue diagnosticity theory, this research concentrates on combining two mainstream studies by incorporating the patient-generated review with the unique characteristics of online medical services–the doctor-patient relationship–to study the information processing issues in choosing consultations. We clawed the dataset, including 2865 doctors related to 152,864 patient-generated reviews and information, from the GoodDoctor website. We then employed a negative binomial regression to test our hypotheses. Interestingly, we found that the effects of review length and review volume on doctors’ consultations can be negatively moderated by the doctor-patient relationship. Our findings can serve patients, doctors, platform managers, and others to optimize the application of patients’ information processing when choosing consultations.

Keywords: Online health communities; Patient-generated review; Doctor-patient relationship; Cue diagnosticity theory (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2023
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DOI: 10.1007/s10660-021-09506-8

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