Physicians social capital aids their medical decisions when they virtually share knowledge

Abstract

Knowledge sharing is daunting to physicians with unclear benefits of improving diagnoses/reducing medical errors. This study explores one aspect of shared knowledge sharing by assessing the effect of physicians' social capital on their decision making mediated by shared knowledge in virtual communities. This study followed a deductive approach. It quantitatively tested 14 hypotheses via a framework based on an adapted survey. This survey was distributed to 204 VC-physician-members. Empirical evidence suggested social capital positively influences physicians' decision making, through trust and identity, during the virtually shared knowledge. Theoretical and practical implications are discussed in our article. The model of our study is the first of its kind: holistically assesses the role of social capital theory, knowledge sharing, and decision making of virtual community physician members. Empirical findings extend current methods and understanding of the role of virtual community physicians' social capital of resources for decision making when mediated by their knowledge sharing behaviour.