IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/bla/ijhplm/v41y2026i2p331-345.html

Knowledge‐Sharing and Patient Choice: Exploring the Curvilinear and Moderated Relationships in the Online Health Community

Author

Listed:
  • Pengfei Zhang
  • Min Chen
  • Yishuai Yin

Abstract

Purpose An increasing number of patients are opting to utilise online health communities as their access to healthcare. However, there is limited research on the factors influencing patient choice in online health communities. The aim of this study was to explore the impact of physicians' knowledge‐sharing in online health communities on patient choice and to analyse the potential theoretical boundaries of the relationship. Design/methodology/approach This study used data collected from a large online health community in China for empirical analysis to illustrate a nonlinear relationship between physicians' knowledge‐sharing and patients' choices. Findings We found there was an inverted U‐shaped relationship between physicians' knowledge‐sharing and patients' choices. Moreover, the physician's pricing marked the non‐linear relationship even steeper. Originality/value This research serves to enrich the existing literature concerning determinants of patient choice by investigating the nonlinear impact of physicians' knowledge‐sharing. This study has important practical implications for improving the quality of online healthcare services and the physician‐patient relationship.

Suggested Citation

  • Pengfei Zhang & Min Chen & Yishuai Yin, 2026. "Knowledge‐Sharing and Patient Choice: Exploring the Curvilinear and Moderated Relationships in the Online Health Community," International Journal of Health Planning and Management, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 41(2), pages 331-345, March.
    • Handle: RePEc:bla:ijhplm:v:41:y:2026:i:2:p:331-345
    DOI: 10.1002/hpm.70053
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://doi.org/10.1002/hpm.70053
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1002/hpm.70053?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    More about this item

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:bla:ijhplm:v:41:y:2026:i:2:p:331-345. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    We have no bibliographic references for this item. You can help adding them by using this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Wiley Content Delivery (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.blackwellpublishing.com/journal.asp?ref=0749-6753 .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.