Fostering Participant Health Knowledge and Attitudes: An Econometric Study of a Chronic Disease-Focused Online Health Community

• 成果类型: Article
• 署名作者: Chen, Langtao; Baird, Aaron; Straub, Detmar
• 署名单位: University of Missouri System; Missouri University of Science & Technology; University System of Georgia; Georgia State University; University System of Georgia; Georgia State University; Pennsylvania Commonwealth System of Higher Education (PCSHE); Temple University; University System of Georgia; University System of Georgia; Georgia State University
• 刊物名称: JOURNAL OF MANAGEMENT INFORMATION SYSTEMS
• ISSN/ISSBN: 0742-1222
• DOI: 10.1080/07421222.2018.1550547
• 发表日期: 2019
• 页码: 194-229
• 关键词: SOCIAL SUPPORT; panel-data; VIRTUAL COMMUNITIES; Information diffusion; strength detection; SELF-MANAGEMENT; care; literacy; networks; COMMUNICATION

摘要

Health consumers are increasingly participating in consumer-to-consumer (C2C) online health communities (OHCs) to receive health-related support and to provide assistance and support to others. However, questions remain as to how individual OHC participants are affected by the relationships they have established within an OHC and how the content exchanged between OHC participants impacts individual-level health knowledge and attitudes. To address these open questions, we develop a model that integrates participant network position (i.e., structural social capital) in an OHC, informational and emotional support exchange, and downstream individual-level health knowledge and attitudes. Based on a panel dataset collected from nine chronic disease-focused discussion boards within an OHC platform, we find that structural social capital is indeed a significant antecedent to social support exchange within an OHC and, interestingly, that social support provisioning (i.e., proactively aiding others) has a stronger effect than social support receipt on health literacy and health attitude improvement.