TITLE:
Effects of User Reviews and Critic Rating on Online Healthcare Sales
AUTHORS:
Wenbo Han
KEYWORDS:
Online Healthcare, User Reviews, Critic Rating of Doctors, Haodaifu
JOURNAL NAME:
American Journal of Industrial and Business Management,
Vol.10 No.12,
December
31,
2020
ABSTRACT: The value of online healthcare has been well documented by academicians and practitioners. Nevertheless, prior literature has paid little attention to the impacts of user reviews and critic rating of doctors in patients’ purchase decision. In this research, we empirically examine the effects of user reviews and critic rating of doctors on online healthcare sales with secondary data on 3283 doctors from Haodaifu.com in China. The results show that both user review valence and volume have positive effects on online healthcare sales. User review volume can amplify the positive effects of review valence on online healthcare sales, since it is an extrinsic, high-scope cue in patients’ decision-making that can alter the diagnosticity of review valence. We further find that the critic rating of doctors can weaken the positive of user review valence and volume on online healthcare sales. We also build a utility model to extend and validate the above findings.