The impact of physicians’ value co-creation behavior on their online performance in intelligent collaborative healthcare

Abstract

With the growth of Internet Healthcare, Intelligent Collaborative Healthcare (ICH) services are being increasingly recognized by physicians and patients as an essential channel for value co-creation. However, limited research has examined how value co-creation behaviors between physicians and patients, as well as among physicians, influence their online performance. To address this gap, we used data for 6600 physicians and 870,000 unstructured interaction records from a leading mobile health app in China. Based on trust transfer theory, we empirically examined how different types of physicians’ value co-creation behaviors influence their online performance. We also analyzed the moderating effects of physicians' status capital and disease risk. Before conducting the analysis, we categorized physicians' value co-creation behaviors into instrumental type and emotional type, with instrumental behaviors further divided into cooperative sharing and informational support. Using a combination of coarsened exact matching and staggered difference-in-differences, the results revealed that physicians’ active instrumental and emotional value co-creation behaviors positively influence their online performance. Moreover, the positive effects of cooperative sharing and informational support behaviors on their online performance are further amplified for physicians with higher status capital. When physicians address diseases with higher risk levels, the positive impact of informational support behavior on their online performance is strengthened, whereas the effects of cooperative sharing and emotional behaviors are diminished. These findings offer significant theoretical and practical implications for promoting physicians' sustained participation in ICH services and enhancing value co-creation between physicians and patients, as well as among physicians.