ArticleBMC medical informatics and decision making2022
Online selection of a physician by patients: the impression formation perspective.
Article in BMC medical informatics and decision making, 2022. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 7 papers.
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Who cites it
7 citing papers in PubMed.
- The Impact of Perceived Quality on Patients' Adoption and Usage of Online Health Consultations: An Empirical Study Based on Trust Theory.Healthcare (Basel, Switzerland) · 2025Article
- Article
- Research on the doctors' win in crowdsourcing competitions: perspectives on service content and competitive environment.BMC medical informatics and decision making · 2023Article
- A Research Based on Online Medical Platform: The Influence of Strong and Weak Ties Information on Patients' Consultation Behavior.Healthcare (Basel, Switzerland) · 2022Article
- Patient's behavior of selection physician in online health communities: Based on an Elaboration likelihood model.Frontiers in public health · 2022Article
- Exploring sources of patient dissatisfaction in mobile health communication: A text analysis based on structural topic model.Digital healthArticle
- Article
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Authors and funding
4 authors.
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Abstract
backgroundWith the rapid development of online health communities (OHCs), an increasing number of physicians provide services in OHCs that enable patients to consult online in China. However, it is difficult for patients to figure out the professional level of doctors before consultation and diagnosis because of information asymmetry. A wealth of information about physicians is displayed in their profiles as a new way to help patients evaluate and select quickly and accurately.
objectiveThis research explores how the profile information (PI) presented in OHCs influences patients' impression formation, especially the perception of professional capital (i.e., status capital and decisional capital). The impression influences their intention to consult further, which is partially mediated by the initial trust. The Toulmin's model of argumentation is used to decide the strength of the argument presented in physicians' homepage information and divide it into claim, data, and backing.
methodsThis study conducts an internet experiment and recruits 386 subjects through the internet to investigate the effect of impression formation on online selection behavior by a patient.
resultsThe results show that the strength of argument has a significant positive association with the perception of professional capital. Perceptions of professional capital are highest when a fully composed argument (claim/data/backing) is included in a profile, with claim/data being the next highest and claim only the lowest. Recommendations from connections have the strongest impact. In turn, patients' selection decisions are influenced by their perception of professional capital, which is partially mediated by initial trust.
conclusionsThis study is significant in terms of its implications for theory and practice. On the one hand, this research contributes to the online health community literature and suggests that the perception of professional capital on physicians should be pre-presumed and built based on the information before in-person interaction online. On the other hand, this study is helpful in understanding the effect of various components included in PI on perceiving physicians' abilities, and not all information is equally important.
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