Work

Persuading Chronically Ill Patients to Subscribe to Medical Services in Physician-Driven Online Health Communities

Year: 2025

Type: article

Abstract: Physician-driven online health communities (OHCs) have gained popularity. Drawing on the persuasive communication literature, this study takes a physician's perspective to examine how physicians signal their professional expertise and caring attitudes through online responses and influence patient medical service subscription decisions. Analyzing textual and image data collected from a leading physiciandriven OHC, we find that caring messages (messages in emotional appeals) significantly boost subscriptions among chronically ill patients, while technical messages (rational appeals) do not. The results are opposite in source framing: authoritative reputation (sources in rational appeals) instead has a significant effect, but smiling images (emotional appeals) do not. The results also indicate the importance of congruence between messages and sources, as well as between texts and images, in both rational and emotional appeals. Our findings make significant theoretical contributions and offer guidance for enhancing chronic disease care.

Source: Journal of the Association for Information Systems

DOI: 10.17705/1jais.00936

Authors: Yan Li, Haiyun (Melody) Zou, Juhee Kwon, Yulin Fang

Institutions: Central University of Finance and Economics, University of Warwick, City University of Hong Kong, University of Hong Kong

Language: English

Topic: Health Literacy and Information Accessibility

Subfield: General Health Professions

Field: Health Professions

Domain: Health Sciences

SDG: Good health and well-being

Open Access status: bronze

Funder: National Natural Science Foundation of China