IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/spr/elmark/v34y2024i1d10.1007_s12525-024-00700-8.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Getting to know my disease better: The influence of linguistic features of patients’ self-disclosure on physicians’ social support in online health consultation

Author

Listed:
  • Linlin Jing

    (Beihang University)

  • Wei Shan

    (Beihang University
    Key Laboratory of Complex System Analysis and Management Decision, Ministry of Education)

  • Richard David Evans

    (Dalhousie University)

  • Xiaoxiao Shi

    (Beihang University)

Abstract

The popularity of online health consultation (OHC) has grown rapidly in recent years and has become a common method for patients to receive affordable healthcare. Despite its widespread use, the impact of patients’ linguistic styles when describing disease symptoms on their continued engagement in consultation remains unclear. Drawing upon social support theory, this study examines the relationship between patients’ linguistic features in self-disclosing disease symptoms and their continued consultation behavior, specifically investigating the role of doctors’ social support. Data was collected from 46,012 patient consultation records on a leading Chinese online health platform. The study’s empirical results demonstrate that the sentence complexity of patients’ self-disclosure has an inverted-U relationship with physicians’ doctors’ social support, while the text length and affective expression of patients’ self-disclosure are positively effective in invoking doctors’ social support in online health consultation. Moreover, the study identifies the moderating influence of patients’ offline visit experience on the above relationships. Finally, for patients with (or without) offline visit experience, doctors’ informational support increases (or decreases) the likelihood of patients’ continued consultation. This study contributes to the creation of long-term doctor-patient relationships in OHCs and the design of platforms through the retention of patients.

Suggested Citation

  • Linlin Jing & Wei Shan & Richard David Evans & Xiaoxiao Shi, 2024. "Getting to know my disease better: The influence of linguistic features of patients’ self-disclosure on physicians’ social support in online health consultation," Electronic Markets, Springer;IIM University of St. Gallen, vol. 34(1), pages 1-24, December.
    • Handle: RePEc:spr:elmark:v:34:y:2024:i:1:d:10.1007_s12525-024-00700-8
    DOI: 10.1007/s12525-024-00700-8
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://link.springer.com/10.1007/s12525-024-00700-8
    File Function: Abstract
    Download Restriction: Access to the full text of the articles in this series is restricted.
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1007/s12525-024-00700-8?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Yanli Zhang & Xinmiao Li & Weiguo Fan, 2020. "User adoption of physician's replies in an online health community: An empirical study," Journal of the Association for Information Science & Technology, Association for Information Science & Technology, vol. 71(10), pages 1179-1191, October.
    2. Chao Lu & Yi Bu & Jie Wang & Ying Ding & Vetle Torvik & Matthew Schnaars & Chengzhi Zhang, 2019. "Examining scientific writing styles from the perspective of linguistic complexity," Journal of the Association for Information Science & Technology, Association for Information Science & Technology, vol. 70(5), pages 462-475, May.
    3. Osei-Frimpong, Kofi & Wilson, Alan & Lemke, Fred, 2018. "Patient co-creation activities in healthcare service delivery at the micro level: The influence of online access to healthcare information," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 126(C), pages 14-27.
    4. Ajay Kumar & Ram D. Gopal & Ravi Shankar & Kim Hua Tan, 2022. "Fraudulent review detection model focusing on emotional expressions and explicit aspects : investigating the potential of feature engineering," Post-Print hal-03630420, HAL.
    5. Xiaofei Zhang & Xitong Guo & Kee-hung Lai & Wu Yi, 2019. "How does online interactional unfairness matter for patient–doctor relationship quality in online health consultation? The contingencies of professional seniority and disease severity," European Journal of Information Systems, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 28(3), pages 336-354, May.
    6. Xiaoxiao Liu & Mingye Hu & Bo Sophia Xiao & Jingbo Shao, 2022. "Is my doctor around me? Investigating the impact of doctors’ presence on patients’ review behaviors on an online health platform," Journal of the Association for Information Science & Technology, Association for Information Science & Technology, vol. 73(9), pages 1279-1296, September.
    7. Hu, Feng & Bijmolt, Tammo H.A. & Huizingh, Eelko K.R.E., 2020. "The impact of innovation contest briefs on the quality of solvers and solutions," Technovation, Elsevier, vol. 90.
    8. Inkyoung Hur & Karlene C. Cousins & Bernd Carsten Stahl, 2019. "A critical perspective of engagement in online health communities," European Journal of Information Systems, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 28(5), pages 523-548, September.
    9. Xiang, Zheng & Du, Qianzhou & Ma, Yufeng & Fan, Weiguo, 2017. "A comparative analysis of major online review platforms: Implications for social media analytics in hospitality and tourism," Tourism Management, Elsevier, vol. 58(C), pages 51-65.
    10. Lu Yan & Yong Tan, 2014. "Feeling Blue? Go Online: An Empirical Study of Social Support Among Patients," Information Systems Research, INFORMS, vol. 25(4), pages 690-709, December.
    11. Ni Huang & Zhijun Yan & Haonan Yin, 2021. "Effects of Online–Offline Service Integration on e‐Healthcare Providers: A Quasi‐Natural Experiment," Production and Operations Management, Production and Operations Management Society, vol. 30(8), pages 2359-2378, August.
    12. Xiangyu Wang & Andrew High & Xi Wang & Kang Zhao, 2021. "Predicting users' continued engagement in online health communities from the quantity and quality of received support," Journal of the Association for Information Science & Technology, Association for Information Science & Technology, vol. 72(6), pages 710-722, June.
    13. Liuan Wang & Lu (Lucy) Yan & Tongxin Zhou & Xitong Guo & Gregory R. Heim, 2020. "Understanding Physicians’ Online-Offline Behavior Dynamics: An Empirical Study," Information Systems Research, INFORMS, vol. 31(2), pages 537-555, June.
    14. Wei Xu & Zhenye Yao & Donghua Chen, 2019. "Chinese annual report readability: measurement and test," China Journal of Accounting Studies, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 7(3), pages 407-437, July.
    15. Mohammadreza Mousavizadeh & Mehrdad Koohikamali & Mohammad Salehan & Dam J. Kim, 2022. "An Investigation of Peripheral and Central Cues of Online Customer Review Voting and Helpfulness through the Lens of Elaboration Likelihood Model," Information Systems Frontiers, Springer, vol. 24(1), pages 211-231, February.
    16. Moradi, Masoud & Dass, Mayukh & Kumar, Piyush, 2023. "Differential effects of analytical versus emotional rhetorical style on review helpfulness," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 154(C).
    17. Lutz, Bernhard & Pröllochs, Nicolas & Neumann, Dirk, 2022. "Are longer reviews always more helpful? Disentangling the interplay between review length and line of argumentation," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 144(C), pages 888-901.
    18. Qing Ye & Hong Wu, 2023. "Offline to online: The impacts of offline visit experience on online behaviors and service in an Internet hospital," Electronic Markets, Springer;IIM University of St. Gallen, vol. 33(1), pages 1-21, December.
    19. Norbert Steigenberger & Hendrik Wilhelm, 2018. "Extending Signaling Theory to Rhetorical Signals: Evidence from Crowdfunding," Organization Science, INFORMS, vol. 29(3), pages 529-546, June.
    20. Yang, Yefei & Zhang, Xiaofei & Lee, Peter K.C., 2019. "Improving the effectiveness of online healthcare platforms: An empirical study with multi-period patient-doctor consultation data," International Journal of Production Economics, Elsevier, vol. 207(C), pages 70-80.
    21. Seyedezahra Shadi Erfani & Babak Abedin & Yvette Blount, 2017. "The effect of social network site use on the psychological well-being of cancer patients," Journal of the Association for Information Science & Technology, Association for Information Science & Technology, vol. 68(5), pages 1308-1322, May.
    22. Mengling Yan & Hongying Tan & Luxue Jia & Umair Akram, 2020. "The Antecedents of Poor Doctor-Patient Relationship in Mobile Consultation: A Perspective from Computer-Mediated Communication," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 17(7), pages 1-16, April.
    23. Adnan Muhammad Shah & Rizwan Ali Naqvi & Ok-Ran Jeong, 2021. "The Impact of Signals Transmission on Patients’ Choice through E-Consultation Websites: An Econometric Analysis of Secondary Datasets," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 18(10), pages 1-21, May.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Yifan He & Min Zhang & Tianshi Wu & Xitong Guo & Doug Vogel, 2025. "The influence of similarity heuristics on evaluation deviation: Evidence from an online crowdsourced Q&A healthcare platform," Electronic Markets, Springer;IIM University of St. Gallen, vol. 35(1), pages 1-21, December.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Qing Ye & Hong Wu, 2023. "Offline to online: The impacts of offline visit experience on online behaviors and service in an Internet hospital," Electronic Markets, Springer;IIM University of St. Gallen, vol. 33(1), pages 1-21, December.
    2. Shan, Wei & Wang, Jiaxuan & Shi, Xiaoxiao & David Evans, Richard, 2024. "The impact of electronic word-of-mouth on patients’ choices in online health communities: A cross-media perspective," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 173(C).
    3. Liu, Huiyuan & Perera, Sandun C. & Wang, Jian-Jun, 2023. "Does the physicians’ medical team joining behavior affect their performance on an online healthcare platform? Evidence from two quasi-experiments," Transportation Research Part E: Logistics and Transportation Review, Elsevier, vol. 171(C).
    4. Wei Zhao & Qianqian Ben Liu & Xitong Guo & Tianshi Wu & Subodha Kumar, 2022. "Quid pro quo in online medical consultation? Investigating the effects of small monetary gifts from patients," Production and Operations Management, Production and Operations Management Society, vol. 31(4), pages 1698-1718, April.
    5. Liu, Huiyuan & Perera, Sandun C. & Wang, Jian-Jun & Leonhardt, James M., 2023. "Physician engagement in online medical teams: A multilevel investigation," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 157(C).
    6. Zhaohua Deng & Zihao Deng & Guorui Fan & Bin Wang & Weiguo (Patrick) Fan & Shan Liu, 2023. "More is better? Understanding the effects of online interactions on patients health anxiety," Journal of the Association for Information Science & Technology, Association for Information Science & Technology, vol. 74(11), pages 1243-1264, November.
    7. Han, Shuihua & Jia, Xinyun & Chen, Xinming & Gupta, Shivam & Kumar, Ajay & Lin, Zhibin, 2022. "Search well and be wise: A machine learning approach to search for a profitable location," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 144(C), pages 416-427.
    8. Ni Huang & Zhijun Yan & Haonan Yin, 2021. "Effects of Online–Offline Service Integration on e‐Healthcare Providers: A Quasi‐Natural Experiment," Production and Operations Management, Production and Operations Management Society, vol. 30(8), pages 2359-2378, August.
    9. Devendra Potnis & Macy Halladay, 2022. "Information practices of administrators for controlling information in an online community of new mothers in rural America," Journal of the Association for Information Science & Technology, Association for Information Science & Technology, vol. 73(11), pages 1621-1640, November.
    10. Iuliana Marin & Nicolae Goga & Razvan-Constantin Stanciu, 2019. "Web application for self-diagnosis and drug recommendation based on user symptoms," Journal of Advances in Technology and Engineering Research, A/Professor Akbar A. Khatibi, vol. 5(2), pages 62-71.
    11. Jilong Zhang & Jin Zhang & Kanliang Wang & Wei Yan, 2023. "Should doctors use or avoid medical terms? The influence of medical terms on service quality of E-health," Electronic Commerce Research, Springer, vol. 23(3), pages 1775-1805, September.
    12. Qiuju Yin & Haoyue Fan & Yijie Wang & Chenxi Guo & Xingzhi Cui, 2022. "Exploring the Peer Effect of Physicians’ and Patients’ Participation Behavior: Evidence from Online Health Communities," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 19(5), pages 1-16, February.
    13. Wang, Ziwei & Chen, Hongmin & Luo, Jun & Wang, Chunming & Xu, Xinyi & Zhou, Ying, 2024. "Sharing service in healthcare systems: A recent survey," Omega, Elsevier, vol. 129(C).
    14. Jiang Shen & Bang An & Man Xu & Dan Gan & Ting Pan, 2022. "Internal or External Word-of-Mouth (WOM), Why Do Patients Choose Doctors on Online Medical Services (OMSs) Single Platform in China?," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 19(20), pages 1-14, October.
    15. Tseng, Hsiao-Ting & Ibrahim, Fahad & Hajli, Nick & Nisar, Tahir M. & Shabbir, Haseeb, 2022. "Effect of privacy concerns and engagement on social support behaviour in online health community platforms," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 178(C).
    16. Yucheng Zhang & Zhiling Wang & Lin Xiao & Lijun Wang & Pei Huang, 2023. "Discovering the evolution of online reviews: A bibliometric review," Electronic Markets, Springer;IIM University of St. Gallen, vol. 33(1), pages 1-22, December.
    17. Gen-Yih Liao & Tzu-Ling Huang & Alan R. Dennis & Ching-I Teng, 2024. "The Influence of Media Capabilities on Knowledge Contribution in Online Communities," Information Systems Research, INFORMS, vol. 35(1), pages 165-183, March.
    18. Guo, Hainan & Xie, Yue & Jiang, Bowen & Tang, Jiafu, 2024. "When outpatient appointment meets online consultation: A joint scheduling optimization framework," Omega, Elsevier, vol. 127(C).
    19. Paolo E. Giordani & Francesco Rullani, 2020. "The Digital Revolution and COVID-19," Working Papers 06, Venice School of Management - Department of Management, Università Ca' Foscari Venezia.
    20. Xuan Liu & Meimei Chen & Jia Li & Ling Ma, 2019. "How to Manage Diversity and Enhance Team Performance: Evidence from Online Doctor Teams in China," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 17(1), pages 1-17, December.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:spr:elmark:v:34:y:2024:i:1:d:10.1007_s12525-024-00700-8. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Sonal Shukla or Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.springer.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.