IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/socmed/v370y2025ics0277953625001972.html

Effects of emotional expression and platform prompts on patient selection: A multi-method study on online question and answer platforms

Author

Listed:
  • Xue, Jiaxin
  • Deng, Zhaohua
  • Wang, Bin

Abstract

Patients lacking medical expertise in online health Q&A platforms find it difficult to assess the quality of physician responses. Emotional support provided by doctors and prompts from the platform may influence patient selection.

Suggested Citation

  • Xue, Jiaxin & Deng, Zhaohua & Wang, Bin, 2025. "Effects of emotional expression and platform prompts on patient selection: A multi-method study on online question and answer platforms," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 370(C).
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:socmed:v:370:y:2025:i:c:s0277953625001972
    DOI: 10.1016/j.socscimed.2025.117868
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0277953625001972
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1016/j.socscimed.2025.117868?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
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to

    for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Chiara Longoni & Andrea Bonezzi & Carey K Morewedge, 2019. "Resistance to Medical Artificial Intelligence," Journal of Consumer Research, Journal of Consumer Research Inc., vol. 46(4), pages 629-650.
    2. Hanmei Fan & Reeva Lederman & Frantz Rowe & Sabine Matook, 2018. "Online health communities: how do community members build the trust required to adopt information and form close relationships?," European Journal of Information Systems, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 27(1), pages 62-89, January.
    3. 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.
    4. Jackie London & Siyuan Li & Heshan Sun, 2022. "Seems Legit: An Investigation of the Assessing and Sharing of Unverifiable Messages on Online Social Networks," Information Systems Research, INFORMS, vol. 33(3), pages 978-1001, September.
    5. Duan, Qin & Chen, Shangyi & Yuan, Hang & Zhang, Yue & Luo, Siyang, 2025. "The psychological impact of reopening after COVID-19 lockdowns in China: Threat perception, affect and moral conflict," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 365(C).
    6. Zhongyun Zhou & Xiao‐Ling Jin & Carol Hsu & Zhenya Tang, 2023. "User empowerment and well‐being with mHealth apps during pandemics: A mix‐methods investigation in China," Journal of the Association for Information Science & Technology, Association for Information Science & Technology, vol. 74(12), pages 1401-1418, December.
    7. Lee, Seunghyun & Ha, Sejin & Widdows, Richard, 2011. "Consumer responses to high-technology products: Product attributes, cognition, and emotions," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 64(11), pages 1195-1200.
    8. Evans, Anthony M. & Dillon, Kyle D. & Goldin, Gideon & Krueger, Joachim I., 2011. "Trust and self-control: The moderating role of the default," Judgment and Decision Making, Cambridge University Press, vol. 6(7), pages 697-705, October.
    9. Abosag, Ibrahim & Ramadan, Zahy B. & Baker, Tom & Jin, Zhongqi, 2020. "Customers' need for uniqueness theory versus brand congruence theory: The impact on satisfaction with social network sites," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 117(C), pages 862-872.
    10. Petersen, Alan & Schermuly, Allegra & Anderson, Alison, 2022. "‘A platform for goodness, not for badness’: The heuristics of hope in patients' evaluations of online health information," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 306(C).
    11. Tongxin Zhou & Yingfei Wang & Lu (Lucy) Yan & Yong Tan, 2023. "Spoiled for Choice? Personalized Recommendation for Healthcare Decisions: A Multiarmed Bandit Approach," Information Systems Research, INFORMS, vol. 34(4), pages 1493-1512, December.
    12. Anthony M. Evans & Kyle D. Dillon & Gideon Goldin & Joachim I. Krueger, 2011. "Trust and self-control: The moderating role of the default," Judgment and Decision Making, Society for Judgment and Decision Making, vol. 6(7), pages 697-705, October.
    13. Lu Yan & Yong Tan, 2014. "Feeling Blue? Go Online: An Empirical Study of Social Support Among Patients," Information Systems Research, INFORMS, vol. 25(4), pages 690-709, December.
    14. Li, Ying & Luan, Shenghua & Li, Yugang & Hertwig, Ralph, 2021. "Changing emotions in the COVID-19 pandemic: A four-wave longitudinal study in the United States and China," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 285(C).
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Xiao, Limin & Han, Xiaoyun, 2026. "Enhancing patient value co-creation via AI-enabled cases disclosure: The role of uncertainty reduction, patient empowerment and risk aversion," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 389(C).

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Hou, Chenxuan & Li, Tingting & Gu, Yanzhang, 2026. "Artificial intelligence versus human providers for personalized solutions? The influence of expected group size and perceived uniqueness on adoption intentions," Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services, Elsevier, vol. 88(C).
    2. Alabed, Amani & Javornik, Ana & Gregory-Smith, Diana, 2022. "AI anthropomorphism and its effect on users' self-congruence and self–AI integration: A theoretical framework and research agenda," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 182(C).
    3. Silke Weissenfels & Anika Nissen & Stefan Smolnik, 2025. "Advancing digital health in information systems research: Insights from a text mining analysis," Electronic Markets, Springer;IIM University of St. Gallen, vol. 35(1), pages 1-25, December.
    4. Gilal, Faheem Gul & Gilal, Naeem Gul & Shahid, Shadma & Gilal, Rukhsana Gul & Shah, Syed Mir Muhammad, 2022. "The role of product design in shaping masstige brand passion: A masstige theory perspective," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 152(C), pages 487-504.
    5. Liu, Huiyuan & Perera, Sandun C. & Wang, Jian-Jun, 2023. "Does the physicians’ medical team joining behavior affect their performance on an online healthcare platform? Evidence from two quasi-experiments," Transportation Research Part E: Logistics and Transportation Review, Elsevier, vol. 171(C).
    6. Qin, Hongyi & Zhu, Yifan & Jiang, Yan & Luo, Siqi & Huang, Cui, 2024. "Examining the impact of personalization and carefulness in AI-generated health advice: Trust, adoption, and insights in online healthcare consultations experiments," Technology in Society, Elsevier, vol. 79(C).
    7. Chen, Changdong, 2024. "How consumers respond to service failures caused by algorithmic mistakes: The role of algorithmic interpretability," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 176(C).
    8. Tinglong Dai & Sridhar Tayur, 2022. "Designing AI‐augmented healthcare delivery systems for physician buy‐in and patient acceptance," Production and Operations Management, Production and Operations Management Society, vol. 31(12), pages 4443-4451, December.
    9. Leah Warfield Smith & Randall Lee Rose & Alex R. Zablah & Heath McCullough & Mohammad “Mike” Saljoughian, 2023. "Examining post-purchase consumer responses to product automation," Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science, Springer, vol. 51(3), pages 530-550, May.
    10. Gen-Yih Liao & Tzu-Ling Huang & Alan R. Dennis & Ching-I Teng, 2024. "The Influence of Media Capabilities on Knowledge Contribution in Online Communities," Information Systems Research, INFORMS, vol. 35(1), pages 165-183, March.
    11. Guo, Hainan & Xie, Yue & Jiang, Bowen & Tang, Jiafu, 2024. "When outpatient appointment meets online consultation: A joint scheduling optimization framework," Omega, Elsevier, vol. 127(C).
    12. Rosanna Cataldo & Martha Friel & Maria Gabriella Grassia & Marina Marino & Emma Zavarrone, 2025. "Importance Performance Matrix Analysis for Assessing User Experience with Intelligent Voice Assistants: A Strategic Evaluation," Social Indicators Research: An International and Interdisciplinary Journal for Quality-of-Life Measurement, Springer, vol. 178(3), pages 1053-1079, July.
    13. Siliang Tong & Nan Jia & Xueming Luo & Zheng Fang, 2021. "The Janus face of artificial intelligence feedback: Deployment versus disclosure effects on employee performance," Strategic Management Journal, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 42(9), pages 1600-1631, September.
    14. Hu, Xiao & Kang, Siqin & Ren, Long & Zhu, Shaokeng, 2024. "Interactive preference analysis: A reinforcement learning framework," European Journal of Operational Research, Elsevier, vol. 319(3), pages 983-998.
    15. Glòria Reig-Garcia & Cristina Bosch-Farré & Rosa Suñer-Soler & Dolors Juvinyà-Canal & Núria Pla-Vila & Rosa Noell-Boix & Esther Boix-Roqueta & Susana Mantas-Jiménez, 2021. "The Impact of a Peer Social Support Network from the Perspective of Women with Fibromyalgia: A Qualitative Study," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 18(23), pages 1-15, December.
    16. Chamaret, Cécile & Steyer, Véronique & Mayer, Julie C., 2020. "“Hands off my meter!” when municipalities resist smart meters: Linking arguments and degrees of resistance," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 144(C).
    17. Zhaohua Deng & Guorui Fan & Zihao Deng & Bin Wang, 2024. "Why Doctors Participate in Teams of Online Health Communities? A Social Identity and Brand Resource Perspective," Information Systems Frontiers, Springer, vol. 26(5), pages 1915-1941, October.
    18. Maude Lavanchy & Patrick Reichert & Jayanth Narayanan & Krishna Savani, 2023. "Applicants’ Fairness Perceptions of Algorithm-Driven Hiring Procedures," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 188(1), pages 125-150, November.
    19. Nika Meyer (née Mozafari) & Melanie Schwede & Maik Hammerschmidt & Welf Hermann Weiger, 2022. "Users taking the blame? How service failure, recovery, and robot design affect user attributions and retention," Electronic Markets, Springer;IIM University of St. Gallen, vol. 32(4), pages 2491-2505, December.
    20. Hsu, Sheila Hsuan-Yu & Tsou, Hung-Tai & Chen, Ja-Shen, 2021. "“Yes, we do. Why not use augmented reality?†customer responses to experiential presentations of AR-based applications," Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services, Elsevier, vol. 62(C).

    More about this item

    Keywords

    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;

    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:eee:socmed:v:370:y:2025:i:c:s0277953625001972. 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.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with 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: Catherine Liu (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.elsevier.com/wps/find/journaldescription.cws_home/315/description#description .

    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.