Knowledge transfer between physicians from different geographical regions in China’s online health communities

Zihao Deng, Zhaohua Deng (), Shan Liu and Richard Evans
Additional contact information
Zihao Deng: Huazhong University of Science and Technology
Zhaohua Deng: Huazhong University of Science and Technology
Shan Liu: Xi’an Jiaotong University
Richard Evans: Dalhousie University

Information Technology and Management, 2025, vol. 26, issue 1, No 5, 83-100

Abstract: Abstract Online Health Communities (OHCs) are a type of self-organizing platform that provide users with access to social support, information, and knowledge transfer opportunities. The medical expertise of registered physicians in OHCs plays a crucial role in maintaining the quality of online medical services. However, few studies have examined the effectiveness of OHCs in transferring knowledge between physicians and most do not distinguish between the explicit and tacit knowledge transferred between physicians. This study aims to demonstrate the cross-regional transfer characteristics of medical knowledge, especially tacit and explicit knowledge. Based on data collected from 4716 registered physicians on Lilac Garden (DXY.cn), a leading Chinese OHC, Exponential Random Graph Models are used to (1) examine the overall network and two subnets of tacit and explicit knowledge (i.e., clinical skills and medical information), and (2) identify patterns in the knowledge transferred between physicians, based on regional variations. Analysis of the network shows that physicians located in economically developed regions or regions with sufficient workforces are more likely to transfer medical knowledge to those from poorer regions. Analysis of the subnets demonstrate that only Gross Domestic Product (GDP) flows are supported in the clinical skill network since discussions around tacit knowledge are a direct manifestation of physicians’ professional abilities. These findings extend current understanding about social value creation in OHCs by examining the medical knowledge flows generated by physicians between regions with different health resources. Moreover, this study demonstrates the cross-regional transfer characteristics of explicit and tacit knowledge to complement the literature on the effectiveness of OHCs to transfer different types of knowledge.

Keywords: Online health communities; Knowledge transfer; Tacit knowledge; Explicit knowledge; ERGMs (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2025
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
http://link.springer.com/10.1007/s10799-023-00400-3 Abstract (text/html)
Access to the full text of the articles in this series is restricted.

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:spr:infotm:v:26:y:2025:i:1:d:10.1007_s10799-023-00400-3

Ordering information: This journal article can be ordered from
http://www.springer.com/journal/10799

DOI: 10.1007/s10799-023-00400-3

Access Statistics for this article

Information Technology and Management is currently edited by Raymond Patterson and Erik Rolland

More articles in Information Technology and Management from Springer
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Sonal Shukla () and Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing ().