Emotion or information? Differences and relationships between two types of professional support in online health communities

Abstract

One major challenge physicians face in online health communities (OHCs) is how to better support patients in online consultations. Addressing this issue requires an in-depth understanding of the differences and relationships between different types of professional support provided by physicians. We use text mining to quantify emotional and informational support in physician replies and compare their impacts on physician returns in OHCs. Our analysis suggests that informational support has a larger and longer-lasting effect than emotional support, and a complementary relationship exists between these two support types. We also find that jargon usage negatively moderates the effect of informational support.