Platform affordance as job resources: Job crafting and online retention of physicians in online health communities

Physicians are the primary providers of online medical services, and their participation is critical to the vitality and sustainability of the online healthcare community. Drawing on the job demands-resources model and affordances theory, we integrate required online effort and platform affordances in online work settings and propose a dual-path model of online retention for physicians. Our findings suggest that on the stress path, physical labor and emotional labor have statistically significant effects on online retention through avoidance crafting, while the effect of cognitive labor is not statistically significant, and that on the motivational path, egocentric affordance and social presence affordances contribute to online retention via approach crafting, whereas the impact of online collaboration affordances is not significant. These findings may extend the understanding of the theoretical motivation behind continuance behavior and help platform managers motivate physicians’ continued participation on the platforms.