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Communications of the Association for Information Systems

Author ORCID Identifier

Tsholofelo Sethibe: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-8395-7224

Babak Abedin: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-3426-443X

Olivera Marjanovic: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-8362-0982

Abstract

The paper theorises ‘digital empowerment for decision making’ in facilitated Virtual Health Communities (VHCs), based on the research insights from a study of a Virtual Health Community (VHC) of informal carers of people with mental illness. The proposed theorisation explains how the use of facilitated VHCs empowers these carers for day-to-day decision-making on behalf of people in their care. The study adopts a mixed-method, using a qualitative-quantitative sequential approach. First, a content analysis of 417 discussion threads with 3157 individual messages posted on a well-established VHC of informal carers is performed to confirm their digital empowerment for decision making. This is followed by a survey of 105 users/informal carers. Partial least squares structural equation modelling is conducted to test the proposed conceptual model and hypotheses. Research findings confirm that digital empowerment for decision making does exist in VHC and is identified by the affective dimension in addition to intrapersonal, interactional, and behavioural dimensions of empowerment. Findings also confirm that VHC facilitation by community facilitators increases users’ digital empowerment for decision making, specifically through the mediated path, with informational support partially mediating digital empowerment. The proposed theorisation opens new opportunities for IS research to investigate digital empowerment for decision-making in other online communities beyond healthcare.

DOI

10.17705/1CAIS.05741

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