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When a Doctor Knows, It Shows: An Empirical Analysis of Doctors’ Responses in a Q&A Forum of an Online Healthcare Portal

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  • Sandeep Khurana

    (Indian School of Business, Gachibowli, Hyderabad, Telangana 500032, India)

  • Liangfei Qiu

    (Warrington College of Business, University of Florida, Gainesville, Florida 32611)

  • Subodha Kumar

    (Fox School of Business, Temple University, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania 19122)

Abstract

Question-and-answer (Q&A) forums are gaining popularity as a user-engagement tool to drive traffic on multiservice portals. In a platform market model, demand-side users seek answers from supply-side users because such answers can indicate value offered, reduce buyer uncertainty, and offer social proof. Analyzing user-generated content on the Q&A forum of a prominent healthcare portal, we find that the introduction of doctors’ responses has a significant causal impact on demand-side user perception of medical services offered. More importantly, our research suggests that doctors’ specialty, experience, qualifications, transparency in appointment booking, service fees, and response quality moderate the effect of doctors’ Q&A responses on user recommendations. These results demonstrate that because of information asymmetry in healthcare, doctors use thoughtful online responses not only to socially interact with patients but also to signal their expertise.

Suggested Citation

  • Sandeep Khurana & Liangfei Qiu & Subodha Kumar, 2019. "When a Doctor Knows, It Shows: An Empirical Analysis of Doctors’ Responses in a Q&A Forum of an Online Healthcare Portal," Information Systems Research, INFORMS, vol. 30(3), pages 872-891, September.
    • Handle: RePEc:inm:orisre:v:30:y:2019:i:3:p:872-891
    DOI: 10.1287/isre.2019.0836
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