Wei Wang

Research Fellow

“We feel and know that we are eternal”

Baruch Spinoza

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Investigating the impact of social support embedded in online consultation on physicians’ online reputation: The moderating role of media capabilities

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Abstract

This paper looks at online health consultations. It asks how doctors can build a better online reputation.

The study focuses on social support in online messages. This includes the way doctors give information, emotional support, and practical help to patients.

The paper also studies how the communication channel matters. Some online tools make it easier to respond quickly or explain things clearly.

The findings can help doctors communicate online in ways that support patients and improve trust.

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🔍 Abstract

The importance of physicians’ online reputation (POR) has been recognized in the healthcare consultation process. However, few studies provide physicians with practical advice that help them improve their online reputation. Drawing on the taxonomy of social support and media synchronicity theory, this study proposes a theoretical model to study the relationship between physicians’ computer-mediated social support (CMSS) and POR, and the moderating effect of media capabilities on above relationships. This study collects online consultation records from a leading Chinese online consultation platform and employs the long short-term memory (LSTM) model to extract measurements of two types of CMSS. Our finding suggests that physicians’ action-facilitating support and nurturant support have significant positive impacts on POR. Furthermore, physicians’ communication frequency and communication depth strengthen the relationship between physicians’ action-facilitating support and POR. Readability strengthens the relationship between social support and POR. This study provides implications on how physicians can improve their online reputation.

📝 Citation

Wei Wang, and Libo Liu. "Investigating the impact of social support embedded in online consultation on physicians’ online reputation: The moderating role of media capabilities." (2022). UPV