IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/inm/orisre/v36y2025i2p690-708.html

The Impact of Geographic and Social Proximity on Physicians: Evidence from the Adoption of an Online Health Community

Author

Listed:
  • Panpan Wang

    (School of Management, Zhejiang University of Finance & Economics, Hangzhou, Zhejiang 310018, China)

  • Liuyi He

    (Business School, Hunan University, Changsha, Hunan 410082, China)

  • Jifeng Luo

    (Antai College of Economics and Management, Shanghai Jiao Tong University, Shanghai 200030, China)

  • Zhiyan Wu

    (School of Management, Shanghai University of International Business and Economics, Shanghai 201620, China)

  • Han Zhang

    (Scheller College of Business, Georgia Institute of Technology, Atlanta, Georgia 30308)

Abstract

Although online doctor consultations are rapidly gaining popularity, physicians must actively participate in physician–patient interaction platforms to fully unlock their potential. Through a social influence lens, this study empirically investigates physician adoption behavior over time across regions in the diffusion of an online health community (OHC). We examined the impacts of geographically and socially close adopters and investigated the interaction of proximity influences and competition in adoption. We collected panel data on 21,654 physicians in 32 cities in three provinces in China from a large Chinese OHC. The results demonstrate that both geographic and social proximity facilitate adoption when local competition is low. However, as local competition increases, the impact of socially close prior adopters increases, whereas that of geographically close prior adopters decreases. This pattern becomes stronger for physicians with lower titles.

Suggested Citation

  • Panpan Wang & Liuyi He & Jifeng Luo & Zhiyan Wu & Han Zhang, 2025. "The Impact of Geographic and Social Proximity on Physicians: Evidence from the Adoption of an Online Health Community," Information Systems Research, INFORMS, vol. 36(2), pages 690-708, June.
    • Handle: RePEc:inm:orisre:v:36:y:2025:i:2:p:690-708
    DOI: 10.1287/isre.2020.0663
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://dx.doi.org/10.1287/isre.2020.0663
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1287/isre.2020.0663?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
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Raghuram Iyengar & Christophe Van den Bulte & Jae Young Lee, 2015. "Social Contagion in New Product Trial and Repeat," Marketing Science, INFORMS, vol. 34(3), pages 408-429, May.
    2. Yang Gao & Wenjing Duan & Huaxia Rui, 2022. "Does Social Media Accelerate Product Recalls? Evidence from the Pharmaceutical Industry," Information Systems Research, INFORMS, vol. 33(3), pages 954-977, September.
    3. Ni Huang & Zhijun Yan & Haonan Yin, 2021. "Effects of Online–Offline Service Integration on e‐Healthcare Providers: A Quasi‐Natural Experiment," Production and Operations Management, Production and Operations Management Society, vol. 30(8), pages 2359-2378, August.
    4. Aishwarya Deep Shukla & Guodong (Gordon) Gao & Ritu Agarwal, 2021. "How Digital Word-of-Mouth Affects Consumer Decision Making: Evidence from Doctor Appointment Booking," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 67(3), pages 1546-1568, March.
    5. Darby, Michael R & Karni, Edi, 1973. "Free Competition and the Optimal Amount of Fraud," Journal of Law and Economics, University of Chicago Press, vol. 16(1), pages 67-88, April.
    6. Lorenz Goette & David Huffman & Stephan Meier, 2006. "The Impact of Group Membership on Cooperation and Norm Enforcement: Evidence Using Random Assignment to Real Social Groups," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 96(2), pages 212-216, May.
    7. Manudeep Bhuller & Tarjei Havnes & Edwin Leuven & Magne Mogstad, 2013. "Broadband Internet: An Information Superhighway to Sex Crime?," The Review of Economic Studies, Review of Economic Studies Ltd, vol. 80(4), pages 1237-1266.
    8. Tanya S. Rosenblat & Markus M. Mobius, 2004. "Getting Closer or Drifting Apart?," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 119(3), pages 971-1009.
    9. Bryan Bollinger & Kenneth Gillingham & A. Justin Kirkpatrick & Steven Sexton, 2022. "Visibility and Peer Influence in Durable Good Adoption," Marketing Science, INFORMS, vol. 41(3), pages 453-476, May.
    10. Fichera, Eleonora & Savage, David, 2015. "Income and Health in Tanzania. An Instrumental Variable Approach," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 66(C), pages 500-515.
    11. Iacus, Stefano & King, Gary & Porro, Giuseppe, 2009. "cem: Software for Coarsened Exact Matching," Journal of Statistical Software, Foundation for Open Access Statistics, vol. 30(i09).
    12. Gerard Hoberg & Gordon Phillips, 2010. "Product Market Synergies and Competition in Mergers and Acquisitions: A Text-Based Analysis," The Review of Financial Studies, Society for Financial Studies, vol. 23(10), pages 3773-3811, October.
    13. Matthew Blackwell & Stefano Iacus & Gary King & Giuseppe Porro, 2009. "cem: Coarsened exact matching in Stata," Stata Journal, StataCorp LLC, vol. 9(4), pages 524-546, December.
    14. Bramoullé, Yann & Djebbari, Habiba & Fortin, Bernard, 2009. "Identification of peer effects through social networks," Journal of Econometrics, Elsevier, vol. 150(1), pages 41-55, May.
    15. Bryan Bollinger & Kenneth Gillingham, 2012. "Peer Effects in the Diffusion of Solar Photovoltaic Panels," Marketing Science, INFORMS, vol. 31(6), pages 900-912, November.
    16. Bin Zhang & Paul A. Pavlou & Ramayya Krishnan, 2018. "On Direct vs. Indirect Peer Influence in Large Social Networks," Information Systems Research, INFORMS, vol. 29(2), pages 292-314, June.
    17. Sanjeev Dewan & Yi-Jen (Ian) Ho & Jui Ramaprasad, 2017. "Popularity or Proximity: Characterizing the Nature of Social Influence in an Online Music Community," Information Systems Research, INFORMS, vol. 28(1), pages 117-136, March.
    18. Wei Zhao & Qianqian Ben Liu & Xitong Guo & Tianshi Wu & Subodha Kumar, 2022. "Quid pro quo in online medical consultation? Investigating the effects of small monetary gifts from patients," Production and Operations Management, Production and Operations Management Society, vol. 31(4), pages 1698-1718, April.
    19. Terza, Joseph V. & Basu, Anirban & Rathouz, Paul J., 2008. "Two-stage residual inclusion estimation: Addressing endogeneity in health econometric modeling," Journal of Health Economics, Elsevier, vol. 27(3), pages 531-543, May.
    20. Agrawal, Ajay & Kapur, Devesh & McHale, John, 2008. "How do spatial and social proximity influence knowledge flows? Evidence from patent data," Journal of Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 64(2), pages 258-269, September.
    21. Peter H. Egger & Sergey Nigai & Nora M. Strecker, 2019. "The Taxing Deed of Globalization," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 109(2), pages 353-390, February.
    22. Liuan Wang & Lu (Lucy) Yan & Tongxin Zhou & Xitong Guo & Gregory R. Heim, 2020. "Understanding Physicians’ Online-Offline Behavior Dynamics: An Empirical Study," Information Systems Research, INFORMS, vol. 31(2), pages 537-555, June.
    23. David Bell & Sangyoung Song, 2007. "Neighborhood effects and trial on the internet: Evidence from online grocery retailing," Quantitative Marketing and Economics (QME), Springer, vol. 5(4), pages 361-400, December.
    24. Liye Ma & Ramayya Krishnan & Alan L. Montgomery, 2015. "Latent Homophily or Social Influence? An Empirical Analysis of Purchase Within a Social Network," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 61(2), pages 454-473, February.
    25. Stacy Berg Dale & Alan B. Krueger, 2002. "Estimating the Payoff to Attending a More Selective College: An Application of Selection on Observables and Unobservables," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 117(4), pages 1491-1527.
    26. Chris Forman & Anindya Ghose & Batia Wiesenfeld, 2008. "Examining the Relationship Between Reviews and Sales: The Role of Reviewer Identity Disclosure in Electronic Markets," Information Systems Research, INFORMS, vol. 19(3), pages 291-313, September.
    27. Lind, Jo Thori, 2020. "Rainy day politics. An instrumental variables approach to the effect of parties on political outcomes," European Journal of Political Economy, Elsevier, vol. 61(C).
    28. Marshall Van Alstyne & Erik Brynjolfsson, 2005. "Global Village or Cyber-Balkans? Modeling and Measuring the Integration of Electronic Communities," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 51(6), pages 851-868, June.
    29. Elina H. Hwang & Xitong Guo & Yong Tan & Yuanyuan Dang, 2022. "Delivering Healthcare Through Teleconsultations: Implications for Offline Healthcare Disparity," Information Systems Research, INFORMS, vol. 33(2), pages 515-539, June.
    30. Yan Chen & Sherry Xin Li, 2009. "Group Identity and Social Preferences," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 99(1), pages 431-457, March.
    31. 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.
    32. Chong (Alex) Wang & Xiaoquan (Michael) Zhang & Il-Horn Hann, 2018. "Socially Nudged: A Quasi-Experimental Study of Friends’ Social Influence in Online Product Ratings," Information Systems Research, INFORMS, vol. 29(3), pages 641-655, September.
    33. Corey M. Angst & Ritu Agarwal & V. Sambamurthy & Ken Kelley, 2010. "Social Contagion and Information Technology Diffusion: The Adoption of Electronic Medical Records in U.S. Hospitals," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 56(8), pages 1219-1241, August.
    34. Catherine Tucker, 2008. "Identifying Formal and Informal Influence in Technology Adoption with Network Externalities," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 54(12), pages 2024-2038, December.
    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. Chen, Qin & Jin, Jiahua & Yan, Xiangbin, 2026. "Exploring the relationship between textual reviews and ratings of patients in online healthcare communities: The psychological attribute perspective," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 223(C).
    2. Zhang, Jinxin & Liang, Liping & Nkoulou Mvondo, Gustave Florentin & Niu, Ben, 2026. "The shorter the response time, the higher the customer satisfaction? An empirical study of online medical consultation services," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 205(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. Liangfei Qiu & Zhan (Michael) Shi & Andrew B. Whinston, 2018. "Learning from Your Friends’ Check-Ins: An Empirical Study of Location-Based Social Networks," Information Systems Research, INFORMS, vol. 29(4), pages 1044-1061, December.
    2. Wu, Zhibin & Li, Yueyuan & Pedrycz, Witold, 2026. "Peer influence in social network: a review of identification, modeling and application," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 203(C).
    3. Xiaoning Wang & Lynn Wu & Lorin M. Hitt, 2024. "Social Media Alleviates Venture Capital Funding Inequality for Women and Less Connected Entrepreneurs," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 70(2), pages 1093-1112, February.
    4. Rhys Murrian & Paul A. Raschky & Klaus Ackermann, 2024. "Friends, Key Players and the Adoption and Use of Experience Goods," Monash Economics Working Papers 2024-17, Monash University, Department of Economics.
    5. Jin Jiang & Yuanyuan Dang & Shanshan Guo & Yuxin Sun & Wenhui Zhou, 2025. "Construction of doctors’ reputation systems in online health services: The combination of online and offline mechanisms," Electronic Markets, Springer;IIM University of St. Gallen, vol. 35(1), pages 1-21, December.
    6. Shan Huang & Sinan Aral & Yu Jeffrey Hu & Erik Brynjolfsson, 2020. "Social Advertising Effectiveness Across Products: A Large-Scale Field Experiment," Marketing Science, INFORMS, vol. 39(6), pages 1142-1165, November.
    7. Xuanqi Liu & Ke-Wei Huang, 2025. "Controlling Homophily in Social Network Regression Analysis by Machine Learning," INFORMS Journal on Computing, INFORMS, vol. 37(3), pages 684-702, May.
    8. Johannes Loh, 2022. "Selection, Consumption, and New Music Exploration in an Online Social Network: A Dyadic Approach," CESifo Working Paper Series 10120, CESifo.
    9. Tianshu Sun & Siva Viswanathan & Elena Zheleva, 2021. "Creating Social Contagion Through Firm-Mediated Message Design: Evidence from a Randomized Field Experiment," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 67(2), pages 808-827, February.
    10. Wang, Ziwei & Chen, Hongmin & Luo, Jun & Wang, Chunming & Xu, Xinyi & Zhou, Ying, 2024. "Sharing service in healthcare systems: A recent survey," Omega, Elsevier, vol. 129(C).
    11. Park, Minjung, 2019. "Selection bias in estimation of peer effects in product adoption," Journal of choice modelling, Elsevier, vol. 30(C), pages 17-27.
    12. Kim, Hwang & Rao, Vithala R., 2022. "The role of network embeddedness across multiple social networks: Evidence from mobile social network games," International Journal of Research in Marketing, Elsevier, vol. 39(3), pages 867-887.
    13. Xiaofei Zhang & Jingchuan Pu & Yixin Lu & Feng Guo, 2025. "Team Makes You Better: Evidence from Online Medical Consultation Platforms," Information Systems Research, INFORMS, vol. 36(3), pages 1738-1759, September.
    14. Tat Y. Chan & Jia Li & Lamar Pierce, 2014. "Learning from Peers: Knowledge Transfer and Sales Force Productivity Growth," Marketing Science, INFORMS, vol. 33(4), pages 463-484, July.
    15. Tianshu Sun & Sean J. Taylor, 2020. "Displaying things in common to encourage friendship formation: A large randomized field experiment," Quantitative Marketing and Economics (QME), Springer, vol. 18(3), pages 237-271, September.
    16. Zhijun Yan & Lini Kuang & Liangfei Qiu, 2022. "Prosocial behaviors and economic performance: Evidence from an online mental healthcare platform," Production and Operations Management, Production and Operations Management Society, vol. 31(10), pages 3859-3876, October.
    17. Liangfei Qiu & Arunima Chhikara & Asoo Vakharia, 2021. "Multidimensional Observational Learning in Social Networks: Theory and Experimental Evidence," Information Systems Research, INFORMS, vol. 32(3), pages 876-894, September.
    18. Qiu, Yueming & Kahn, Matthew E. & Xing, Bo, 2019. "Quantifying the rebound effects of residential solar panel adoption," Journal of Environmental Economics and Management, Elsevier, vol. 96(C), pages 310-341.
    19. Yanhao Wei & Pinar Yildirim & Christophe Van den Bulte & Chrysanthos Dellarocas, 2016. "Credit Scoring with Social Network Data," Marketing Science, INFORMS, vol. 35(2), pages 234-258, March.
    20. Frondel, Manuel & Kaestner, Kathrin & Sommer, Stephan & Vance, Colin, 2022. "Photovoltaics and the solar rebound: Evidence for Germany," Ruhr Economic Papers 954, RWI - Leibniz-Institut für Wirtschaftsforschung, Ruhr-University Bochum, TU Dortmund University, University of Duisburg-Essen.

    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:inm:orisre:v:36:y:2025:i:2:p:690-708. 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: Chris Asher (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/inforea.html .

    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.