Exploring the Factors Influencing Consumers to Voluntarily Reward Free Health Service Contributors in Online Health Communities: Empirical Study

Background Rewarding health knowledge and health service contributors with money is one possible approach for the sustainable provision of health knowledge and health services in online health communities (OHCs); however, the reasons why consumers voluntarily reward free health knowledge and health service contributors are still underinvestigated. Objective This study aimed to address the abovementioned gap by exploring the factors influencing consumers’ voluntary rewarding behaviors (VRBs) toward contributors of free health services in OHCs. Methods On the basis of prior studies and the cognitive-experiential self-theory (CEST), we incorporated two health service content–related variables (ie, informational support and emotional support) and two interpersonal factors (ie, social norm compliance and social interaction) and built a proposed model. We crawled a dataset from a Chinese OHC for mental health, coded it, extracted nine variables, and tested the model with a negative binomial model. Results The data sample included 2148 health-related questions and 12,133 answers. The empirical results indicated that the effects of informational support (β=.168; P<.001), emotional support (β=.463; P<.001), social norm compliance (β=.510; P<.001), and social interaction (β=.281; P<.001) were significant. The moderating effects of social interaction on informational support (β=.032; P=.02) and emotional support (β=−.086; P<.001) were significant. The moderating effect of social interaction on social norm compliance (β=.014; P=.38) was insignificant. Conclusions Informational support, emotional support, social norm compliance, and social interaction positively influence consumers to voluntarily reward free online health service contributors. Social interaction enhances the effect of informational support but weakens the effect of emotional support. This study contributes to the literature on knowledge sharing in OHCs by exploring the factors influencing consumers’ VRBs toward free online health service contributors and contributes to the CEST literature by verifying that the effects of experiential and rational systems on individual behaviors can vary while external factors change.

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Exploring the Factors Influencing Consumers to Voluntarily Reward Free Health Service Contributors in Online Health Communities: Empirical Study (Preprint)

10.2196/preprints.16526 ◽

2019 ◽

Author(s):

Junjie Zhou ◽

Fang Liu ◽

Tingting Zhou

Keyword(s):

Social Interaction ◽

Health Service ◽

Emotional Support ◽

Social Norm ◽

Health Knowledge ◽

Informational Support ◽

Online Health Communities ◽

Factors Influencing ◽

Norm Compliance ◽

Health Communities

BACKGROUND Rewarding health knowledge and health service contributors with money is one possible approach for the sustainable provision of health knowledge and health services in online health communities (OHCs); however, the reasons why consumers voluntarily reward free health knowledge and health service contributors are still underinvestigated. OBJECTIVE This study aimed to address the abovementioned gap by exploring the factors influencing consumers’ voluntary rewarding behaviors (VRBs) toward contributors of free health services in OHCs. METHODS On the basis of prior studies and the cognitive-experiential self-theory (CEST), we incorporated two health service content–related variables (ie, informational support and emotional support) and two interpersonal factors (ie, social norm compliance and social interaction) and built a proposed model. We crawled a dataset from a Chinese OHC for mental health, coded it, extracted nine variables, and tested the model with a negative binomial model. RESULTS The data sample included 2148 health-related questions and 12,133 answers. The empirical results indicated that the effects of informational support (β=.168; P<.001), emotional support (β=.463; P<.001), social norm compliance (β=.510; P<.001), and social interaction (β=.281; P<.001) were significant. The moderating effects of social interaction on informational support (β=.032; P=.02) and emotional support (β=−.086; P<.001) were significant. The moderating effect of social interaction on social norm compliance (β=.014; P=.38) was insignificant. CONCLUSIONS Informational support, emotional support, social norm compliance, and social interaction positively influence consumers to voluntarily reward free online health service contributors. Social interaction enhances the effect of informational support but weakens the effect of emotional support. This study contributes to the literature on knowledge sharing in OHCs by exploring the factors influencing consumers’ VRBs toward free online health service contributors and contributes to the CEST literature by verifying that the effects of experiential and rational systems on individual behaviors can vary while external factors change.

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Understanding the Factors Influencing Patient E-Health Literacy in Online Health Communities (OHCs): A Social Cognitive Theory Perspective

International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health ◽

10.3390/ijerph16142455 ◽

2019 ◽

Vol 16 (14) ◽

pp. 2455 ◽

Cited By ~ 9

Author(s):

Junjie Zhou ◽

Tingting Fan

Keyword(s):

Social Interaction ◽

Health Literacy ◽

Social Cognitive ◽

Cognitive Theory ◽

Health Knowledge ◽

Online Health Communities ◽

Factors Influencing ◽

Health Communities ◽

Social Environmental ◽

Knowledge Seeking

Although online health communities (OHCs) are increasingly popular in public health promotion, few studies have explored the factors influencing patient e-health literacy in OHCs. This paper aims to address the above gap. Based on social cognitive theory, we identified one behavioral factor (i.e., health knowledge seeking) and one social environmental factor (i.e., social interaction ties) and proposed that both health knowledge seeking and social interaction ties directly influence patient e-health literacy; in addition, social interaction ties positively moderate the effect of health knowledge seeking on patient e-health literacy. We collected 333 valid data points and verified our three hypotheses. The empirical results provide two crucial findings. First, both health knowledge seeking and social interaction ties positively influence patient e-health literacy in OHCs. Second, social interaction ties positively moderate the effect of health knowledge seeking on patient e-health literacy. These findings firstly contribute to public health literature by exploring the mechanism of how different factors influence patient e-health literacy in OHCs and further contribute to e-health literacy literature by verifying the impact of social environmental factors.

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Understanding users’ participation in online health communities: A social capital perspective

Information Development ◽

10.1177/0266666919864620 ◽

2019 ◽

Vol 36 (3) ◽

pp. 403-413 ◽

Cited By ~ 2

Author(s):

Tao Zhou

Keyword(s):

Social Capital ◽

Emotional Support ◽

Health Knowledge ◽

Social Capital Theory ◽

Informational Support ◽

Capital Theory ◽

Online Health Communities ◽

The Social ◽

Health Communities ◽

Social Capital Perspective

Due to the intense competition, it is crucial for online health communities to facilitate users’ participation and retain them. Drawing on the social capital theory, this research examined users’ participation in online health communities. The results indicated that social support, which includes informational support and emotional support, has a significant effect on social capital, which in turn affects users’ participation including health knowledge acquisition and contribution. The results imply that online health communities need to create a supportive climate in order to develop social capital and facilitate users’ participation.

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Antecedents and consequences of the perceived usefulness of smoking cessation online health communities

Internet Research ◽

10.1108/intr-04-2020-0220 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽

Author(s):

Chenglong Li ◽

Hongxiu Li ◽

Reima Suomi

Keyword(s):

Social Support ◽

Smoking Cessation ◽

Knowledge Sharing ◽

Emotional Support ◽

Perceived Usefulness ◽

Informational Support ◽

Continuance Intention ◽

Content Type ◽

Online Health Communities ◽

Health Communities

PurposeAn empirical study investigated the antecedents to perceived usefulness (PU) and its consequences in the context of smoking cessation online health communities (OHCs).Design/methodology/approachTo validate a research model for perceived informational support, perceived emotional support and perceived esteem support, the authors conducted a partial-least-squares analysis of empirical data from an online survey (N = 173) of users of two smoking cessation OHCs. The proposed model articulates these as antecedents to PU from a social support perspective, and knowledge sharing and continuance intention are expressed as consequences of PU.FindingsThe empirical study identified that the PU of smoking cessation OHCs is influenced by perceived emotional support and perceived esteem support, and perceived informational support indirectly affects PU via these factors. In turn, PU exerts a positive influence on both knowledge sharing and continuance intention. Also, knowledge sharing positively affects continuance intention.Originality/valueThe study contributes to scholarship on users' postadoption behavior in the context of smoking cessation OHCs by disentangling the antecedents to PU from a social support perspective and pinpointing some important consequences of PU. The research also has practical implications for managing smoking cessation OHCs.

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Factors Influencing People’s Personal Information Disclosure Behaviors in Online Health Communities: A Pilot Study

Asia Pacific Journal of Public Health ◽

10.1177/1010539518754390 ◽

2018 ◽

Vol 30 (3) ◽

pp. 286-295 ◽

Cited By ~ 12

Author(s):

Junjie Zhou

Keyword(s):

Health Information ◽

Emotional Support ◽

Information Disclosure ◽

Personal Information ◽

Severe Disease ◽

Financial Loss ◽

Online Health Communities ◽

Factors Influencing ◽

Needed Information ◽

Health Communities

To effectively facilitate health information sharing and personal information protection in online health communities (OHCs), it is important to examine the factors influencing people’s personal information disclosure behavior in OHCs. Five factors were supposed as the predictors of people’s personal information disclosure behavior in OHCs. A total of 376 participants in a Chinese online cancer community were analyzed. The empirical results indicate that more participants give more attention to risk factors than motivating factors when they disclose information in OHCs. In a not so severe condition, participants post their personal information to only obtain needed information. In severe disease situations, participants disclose personal information to obtain both needed information and emotional support, and emotional support is prioritized; in addition, they even risk financial loss to seek more useful information or emotional support. OHC managers should make policies to protect people’s personal information, and thus encourage them to share more health information in OHCs.

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