Understanding the influence of professional status and service feedback on patients' doctor choice in online healthcare markets

PurposeDespite the prevalent use of professional status and service feedback in online healthcare markets, the potential interaction relationship between two types of information is still unknown. This study used the signaling theory to examine the substitute relationship between professional status...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Internet research 2021-07, Vol.31 (4), p.1236-1261
Main Authors: Yang, Hualong, Du, Helen S, Shang, Wei
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Consultation Programs
Decision making
Feedback
Health care
Health Services
Illnesses
Information Needs
Job Skills
Measurement Techniques
Medical Services
Patients
Physicians
Professional Recognition
Quality of service
Resource Allocation
Signaling
Substitutes
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Summary:PurposeDespite the prevalent use of professional status and service feedback in online healthcare markets, the potential interaction relationship between two types of information is still unknown. This study used the signaling theory to examine the substitute relationship between professional status and service feedback in patients' doctor choice, as well as the moderating effect of illness severity.Design/methodology/approachTo test the paper's hypotheses, we constructed a panel data model using 418 doctors' data collected over a period of six months from an online healthcare market in China. Then, according to the results of the Hausman test, we estimated a fixed-effects model of patients' choice in online healthcare markets.FindingsThe empirical results showed that the effect of a doctor's professional status and service feedback on a patient's doctor choice was substitutable. Moreover, patients' illness severity played a moderating role, in that the influence of professional status on a patient with high-severity illness was higher than that on a patient with low-severity illness, whereas the influence of service feedback on a patient with low-severity illness was higher than that of a patient with high-severity illness. In addition, we found that illness severity negatively moderated the substitute relationship between professional status and service feedback on a patient's choice.Originality/valueThese findings not only contribute to signaling theory and research on online healthcare markets, but also help us understand the importance of professional status and service feedback on a patient's choice when seeking a doctor online.
ISSN:1066-2243
2054-5657
DOI:10.1108/INTR-10-2019-0429