Start Date

10-12-2017 12:00 AM

Description

Reconstructive surgery is a critical decision on the part of a patient. Asymmetric information around reconstructive surgeries may be overwhelming as well as misleading. Health infomediaries play a role in reducing the information asymmetry of facts and perceptions regarding reconstructive surgeries. However, the mere exchange or sharing of information is not beneficial, unless the infomediary acts as a channel to motivate patients to seek doctors’ advice. This study explores what attributes of a patient’s activities in the infomediary can be useful to determine a higher likelihood of a doctor consultation-seeking outcome. We empirically analyze 304,284 daily observations of 38,697 users, collected from a reconstructive surgery health infomediary. We deploy a logit hazard model specification for our empirical examination. Key findings suggest that questions and reviews are associated with doctor-seeking decisions, while comments are not. We discuss the implications and contributions of this study.

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Dec 10th, 12:00 AM

To Ask or Not To Ask? An Investigation of User Engagement and Doctor-Seeking Decision in Online Health Infomediary

Reconstructive surgery is a critical decision on the part of a patient. Asymmetric information around reconstructive surgeries may be overwhelming as well as misleading. Health infomediaries play a role in reducing the information asymmetry of facts and perceptions regarding reconstructive surgeries. However, the mere exchange or sharing of information is not beneficial, unless the infomediary acts as a channel to motivate patients to seek doctors’ advice. This study explores what attributes of a patient’s activities in the infomediary can be useful to determine a higher likelihood of a doctor consultation-seeking outcome. We empirically analyze 304,284 daily observations of 38,697 users, collected from a reconstructive surgery health infomediary. We deploy a logit hazard model specification for our empirical examination. Key findings suggest that questions and reviews are associated with doctor-seeking decisions, while comments are not. We discuss the implications and contributions of this study.