Start Date

16-8-2018 12:00 AM

Description

With the proliferation of e-healthcare, free online medical consulting service has become increasingly popular in recent years. However, the impacts of it remain largely unexplored. Current literature reports inconsistent and conflicting evidences on the relationship between free service and follow-up performance. Furthermore, prior studies didn’t address the effects of free medical service and their interaction effects with individual traits on physician performance. Drawing on e-healthcare literature, this study thus seeks to provide a better understanding of the correlations between free online medical consulting service and subsequent performance of online physicians. The effects of free online medical consulting service and the moderation effects of physician's traits are tested with data collected from an online healthcare platform. Preliminary findings show that free service could improve physician performance and such incentive would be more effective for new platform entrants and low professional title physicians. We also highlight the role of differing levels of price setting, as this factor may be a reason for the conflicts concerning the impact of free service.

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Aug 16th, 12:00 AM

Impact of Free Online Medical Consulting Service on Physician Performance

With the proliferation of e-healthcare, free online medical consulting service has become increasingly popular in recent years. However, the impacts of it remain largely unexplored. Current literature reports inconsistent and conflicting evidences on the relationship between free service and follow-up performance. Furthermore, prior studies didn’t address the effects of free medical service and their interaction effects with individual traits on physician performance. Drawing on e-healthcare literature, this study thus seeks to provide a better understanding of the correlations between free online medical consulting service and subsequent performance of online physicians. The effects of free online medical consulting service and the moderation effects of physician's traits are tested with data collected from an online healthcare platform. Preliminary findings show that free service could improve physician performance and such incentive would be more effective for new platform entrants and low professional title physicians. We also highlight the role of differing levels of price setting, as this factor may be a reason for the conflicts concerning the impact of free service.