Shooting the arrow at the target: exploring the effects of physician-patient information and emotion matching on online health platforms

Purpose This study aims to explore the dilemma that physicians face regarding whether they provide the information and emotion that match those of patients in online physician-patient interactions. Design/methodology/approach To address this dilemma, we propose the perspective of physician-patient matching and identify the physician-patient information and emotion matching. A physician-patient two-way resource exchange model is constructed to explore the effects of both matchings on physicians’ social and economic returns. Findings Using the appropriately 49,000 patients’ consultation records from 228 physicians in the AIDS disease module of a popular online health platform in China, we empirically find that both matchings positively affect physicians’ returns. However, these effects are weakened by physicians’ response enthusiasm. Originality/value These results renovate our traditional understanding by determining that patients’ feedback on physicians’ responses comes not only from the content itself but also from patients.