Start Date
16-8-2018 12:00 AM
Description
Information exchange concerning evaluation products and services has increased over the internet. This trend does not stop at medical treatment services and the patients’ evaluation of their physician. However, ratings on Amazon.com show low participation of consumers. In the case of physician ratings, this even more severe. The scarce of ratings implicate an insufficient information basis for patients to rely on. This research investigates factors which prevent patients from contributing their information of medical treatment experiences by partially applying Social Exchange Theory (SET) and the effects of patients’ general capabilities to exchange information via the internet. Results show that the ability to exchange information is one main determinant for the participation in eWOM, whereas the costs derived by SET did not influence the rating behavior. This suggests that the specifics of the medical treatment service call for additional theories to explain why patients are so restrictive in their rating behavior.
Recommended Citation
Haug, Maximilian and Gewald, Heiko, "To eWOM, or not? Investigating the Restricting Factors to Provide Online Ratings for Physicians" (2018). AMCIS 2018 Proceedings. 9.
https://aisel.aisnet.org/amcis2018/VirtualCC/Presentations/9
To eWOM, or not? Investigating the Restricting Factors to Provide Online Ratings for Physicians
Information exchange concerning evaluation products and services has increased over the internet. This trend does not stop at medical treatment services and the patients’ evaluation of their physician. However, ratings on Amazon.com show low participation of consumers. In the case of physician ratings, this even more severe. The scarce of ratings implicate an insufficient information basis for patients to rely on. This research investigates factors which prevent patients from contributing their information of medical treatment experiences by partially applying Social Exchange Theory (SET) and the effects of patients’ general capabilities to exchange information via the internet. Results show that the ability to exchange information is one main determinant for the participation in eWOM, whereas the costs derived by SET did not influence the rating behavior. This suggests that the specifics of the medical treatment service call for additional theories to explain why patients are so restrictive in their rating behavior.