The Impacts of Patients’ Gift Giving Behavior on Physicians’ Service Quality

Zhao, Wei; Guo, Xitong; Wu, Tianshi; Geng, Jingxuan

doi:10.1007/978-3-319-67964-8_5

Cited by 4 publications

(5 citation statements)

References 31 publications

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“…Gift giving can enhance physicians’ service quality, which was proven in our model and is consistent with prior studies [ 14 ]. As an important tool in social interactions [ 17 ], gift exchange is beneficial for individuals to participate in social contact.…”

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 91%

“…Although previous studies have questioned the value of gift giving in the health sector (mainly in hospital settings) and even treat gift giving as a reason to explain the current tense physician-patient relationship and moral reduction in the medical field [ 36 , 37 ], the specific factors that influence gift giving in an online health environment have been unknown. In contrast to the study of Zhao et al [ 14 ], both the details of reply and bedside manner of physicians were included as potential consequences of gift giving in our study. Therefore, we empirically confirmed the role of gift giving in an online health environment.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Despite recognition of the many advantages of gift giving for both patients and physicians, these effects should also be empirically examined. To the best of our knowledge, only one study has investigated the relationships between gift giving and physicians’ service delivery to date [ 14 ]. However, the influence according to gift types distinguished by motivations has not been given full consideration.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Consequences of Gift Giving in Online Health Communities on Physician Service Quality: Empirical Text Mining Study

Peng¹,

Wang²,

Jing³

2020

J Med Internet Res

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Background Gift giving, which has been a heavily debated topic in health care for many years, is considered as a way of expressing gratitude and to be beneficial for the physician-patient relationship within a reasonable range. However, not much work has been done to examine the influence of gift giving on physicians’ service quality, especially in the online health care environment. Objective This study addressed the consequences of gift giving by mining and analyzing the dynamic physician-patient interaction processes in an online health community. Specifically, gift types (affective or instrumental) based on the motivations and physician-patient tie strength were carefully considered to account for differences in physicians’ service quality. Methods The dynamic interaction processes (involving 3154 gifts) between 267 physicians and 14,187 patients from a well-known online health community in China (haodf.com) were analyzed to obtain empirical results. Results Our results reveal that patient gift giving inspires physicians to improve their service quality as measured by physicians’ more detailed responses and improved bedside manner, and the degree of influence varied according to the strength of the physician-patient tie. Moreover, affective gifts and instrumental gifts had different effects in improving physicians’ service quality online. Conclusions This study is among the first to explore gift giving in online health communities providing both important theoretical and practical contributions. All of our results suggest that gift giving online is of great significance to promoting effective physician-patient communication and is conducive to the relief of physician-patient conflicts.

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Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 91%

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

See 1 more Smart Citation

Consequences of Gift Giving in Online Health Communities on Physician Service Quality: Empirical Text Mining Study

Peng¹,

Wang²,

Jing³

2020

J Med Internet Res

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“…In addition to these debates, online gifts have also attracted the attention of some scholars. Zhao et al [8] studied physician-patient interactions on the online health community Good Physician Online and confirmed that online gifts from patients could improve physicians' online response rate. However, this study did not delve into the possible effects of the gift price.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 94%

“…First, despite previous research about the impact of online gifts in social networks and live broadcast platforms [33,[52][53][54][55], few scholars have paid attention to the gifts provided in online health communities. Furthermore, research related to gift-giving behaviors in an online health community verified that online gifts from patients could improve the speed of physicians' answers during the consultation [8], but ignored the potential effect of gift price. Our study is among the first to use real data to empirically examine the effect of gift price in an online health community, which is a universally beneficial sector.…”

Section: Theoretical Implicationsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Impact of the Price of Gifts From Patients on Physicians’ Service Quality in Online Consultations: Empirical Study Based on Social Exchange Theory

Wang¹,

Wu²,

Xia³

et al. 2020

J Med Internet Res

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Background Gift giving from patients to physicians, which is prohibited in traditional clinical settings in China, has been found to occur in online health communities. However, there is debate on the validity of online gifts since physicians gain an economic benefit. Moreover, the potential impact of these gifts, particularly with respect to the financial value of the gift, on the online consultation service quality remains unexplored. Objective The aim of this study was to explore the impact of gift price on the quality of physicians’ online consultation service. Insight into this impact is expected to help resolve existing debate on the appropriateness of the gift-giving practice in online consultations. Methods A dataset of 141 physicians and 4249 physician-patient interactions was collected from the Good Physician Online website, which is the largest online consultation platform in China. Based on social exchange theory, we investigated how gift price affects the quality of physicians’ online consultation service and how this impact changes according to the physician’s service price and number of all gifts received. Manual annotation was used to identify the information support paragraphs and emotional support paragraphs in the answers of physicians. The quality of the information support paragraphs, rather than the complete answer, was used to test the robustness of our model. Results Gift price had a positive impact on the quality of physicians’ online consultation service (β=4.941, P<.01). This impact was negatively mediated by both the physician’s service price (β=–9.245, P<.001) and the total number of gifts they received (β=–5.080, P<.001). Conclusions Gift price has a positive impact on physicians’ online behavior, although the impact varies among physicians.

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The effect of interactive factors on online health consultation review deviation: An empirical investigation

He¹,

Guo²,

Wu³

et al. 2022

International Journal of Medical Informatics

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The Impacts of Patients’ Gift Giving Behavior on Physicians’ Service Quality

Cited by 4 publications

References 31 publications

Consequences of Gift Giving in Online Health Communities on Physician Service Quality: Empirical Text Mining Study

Consequences of Gift Giving in Online Health Communities on Physician Service Quality: Empirical Text Mining Study

Impact of the Price of Gifts From Patients on Physicians’ Service Quality in Online Consultations: Empirical Study Based on Social Exchange Theory

The effect of interactive factors on online health consultation review deviation: An empirical investigation

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