Patient influencer: the impact of homophily on value co-creation behaviour in online health communities

The world has witnessed a rapid rise of online health communities (OHCs) where patients can create a powerful network of support and resources to make a meaningful difference in people’s health lives. Despite this rapid rise, healthcare authorities and organisations are under enormous pressure to create a sustainable environment for OHCs. Prior studies revealed that encouraging patient value co-creation behaviour (VCB) is substantially beneficial for successful OHCs; however, what factors influence these patient behaviours to co-create value is still unknown. To fill this gap, this study uses the service-dominant logic perspective of value co-creation theory and discloses how homophily between patient influencers and patients in OHCs effect VCB. The data was collected through a self-administered survey from 422 patients who are users of OHC in China and was analysed via partial least squares structural equation modelling and fuzzy set qualitative comparative analysis (fsQCA). The results revealed that homophily positively influences VCBs, i.e. participation behaviour (PB) and citizenship behaviour (CB). A parasocial relationship only moderates the relations between homophily and (PB), whereas the influencer ethical interaction capability significantly moderates the relationship of both homophily with patient PB and CB. Furthermore, the fsQCA findings signify the robustness of the study model.