IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/spr/elmark/v35y2025i1d10.1007_s12525-024-00748-6.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

The influence of similarity heuristics on evaluation deviation: Evidence from an online crowdsourced Q&A healthcare platform

Author

Listed:
  • Yifan He

    (Zhejiang Sci-Tech University)

  • Min Zhang

    (Harbin Institute of Technology)

  • Tianshi Wu

    (Harbin Institute of Technology)

  • Xitong Guo

    (Harbin Institute of Technology)

  • Doug Vogel

    (Harbin Institute of Technology)

Abstract

Crowdsourced question-and-answer (Q&A) services on online healthcare platforms provide a wide range of information for patients. Owing to information asymmetry, evaluating healthcare providers’ services often leads to skewed decision-making, but it remains unclear whether heuristic cues play a role. Considering potential heuristic information processing, we explore the existence of patient evaluation deviation in a crowdsourced context and how it is affected by the similarity among the physicians’ answer text, the question, and the first answer text. Data were collected from 1,074,885 answer records on a leading Chinese online crowdsourced Q&A healthcare platform. Our findings show that the text similarity of questions and answers in physician‒patient interactions, as well as of first and subsequent answers, increases the evaluation deviation of online physicians’ consultations (specifically, increasing patient underestimation and reducing patient overestimation). Moreover, the information differentiation of all answers to the same question has a negative moderating effect on the above relationship. The results of this study provide empirical evidence regarding the factors that influence online evaluation deviation in crowdsourced Q&A services and suggestions for strategies for different stakeholders.

Suggested Citation

  • 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.
    • Handle: RePEc:spr:elmark:v:35:y:2025:i:1:d:10.1007_s12525-024-00748-6
    DOI: 10.1007/s12525-024-00748-6
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://link.springer.com/10.1007/s12525-024-00748-6
    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/s12525-024-00748-6?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.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    Crowdsourced Q&A; Evaluation deviation; Similarity heuristic; Question-and-answer similarity; First answer similarity;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • D80 - Microeconomics - - Information, Knowledge, and Uncertainty - - - General

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    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:35:y:2025:i:1:d:10.1007_s12525-024-00748-6. 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.

    We have no bibliographic references for this item. You can help adding them by using 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.