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.
Recommended Citation
Yim, Dobin; Khuntia, Jiban; Lim, Sanghee; and Duan, Wenjing, "To Ask or Not To Ask? An Investigation of User Engagement and Doctor-Seeking Decision in Online Health Infomediary" (2017). ICIS 2017 Proceedings. 18.
https://aisel.aisnet.org/icis2017/IT-and-Healthcare/Presentations/18
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.