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Article
Publication date: 29 January 2024

Hasbi Alikunju and Anila Sulochana

The internet has evolved into an indispensable platform for seeking health information, particularly among transgender individuals. With an abundance of online resources…

Abstract

Purpose

The internet has evolved into an indispensable platform for seeking health information, particularly among transgender individuals. With an abundance of online resources available, extensive research into the credibility and reliability of this information is essential, as concerns about the quality of online resources persist. Transgender individuals are drawn to online health information due to the anonymity it offers, providing them with a sense of freedom from social isolation and the discomfort of experimenting with their transgender identity. However, it is crucial to assess the accuracy and reliability of the transgender health information available on the internet. This article aims to evaluate the quality of online transgender health resources by utilizing ten credibility indicators, along with six indicators to assess the veracity of the content.

Design/methodology/approach

A total of 179 online resources were meticulously reviewed after excluding any unnecessary and irrelevant ones, to ensure a comprehensive assessment.

Findings

The findings suggest that among the chosen resources, none of them meet all the criteria for maintaining high standards of accuracy and reliability in health information. In other words, none of these sources completely adhere to the established measures for ensuring that the information they provide is trustworthy and of high quality in the context of health.

Originality/value

The study provides valuable insights into the online realm of transgender health information, revealing both the strengths and weaknesses of the existing resources. By pinpointing areas that need enhancement and showcasing commendable practices, this research strives to promote a more knowledgeable and supportive online environment for individuals in search of transgender health information.

Details

Online Information Review, vol. ahead-of-print no. ahead-of-print
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 1468-4527

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 29 December 2023

Baoku Li and Yafeng Nan

This paper aims to reveal the influence of the presentation of online product information (POPI) on consumer attitudes in the context of online buying digital products.

Abstract

Purpose

This paper aims to reveal the influence of the presentation of online product information (POPI) on consumer attitudes in the context of online buying digital products.

Design/methodology/approach

Two main experimental designs are used to collect data. The ANOVA, t-test and Bootstrap methods are applied to check hypotheses.

Findings

Findings of Study 1 indicate that if the POPI is combined with different types of celebrity endorsement (CE) (real vs virtual), the self-brand connection will be changed and further influence consumer attitudes toward digital products. Study 2 verifies the diverse moderating effects of the type of virtual CE. The CRP (central-route presentation) online product information with SVCE (super-realistic-digital virtual CE) can decrease consumer attitudes, while the PRP (peripheral-route presentation) online product information with AVCE (anthropomorphic virtual CE) can enhance consumer attitudes.

Practical implications

E-commerce enterprises should optimize the current layout of POPI by considering diverse matchings between POPI and CE to increase consumer attitudes. Moreover, marketers could make various schemes of POPI considering (virtual) CE and self-brand connection.

Originality/value

Findings contribute to understanding the relationship between POPI and consumer attitudes considering the mediation of self-brand connection and the mediations of virtual/real CE. Additionally, this study bridges the gap between research on virtual CE and business practices.

Details

Marketing Intelligence & Planning, vol. 42 no. 2
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0263-4503

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 11 January 2024

Dingyu Shi, Xiaofei Zhang, Libo Liu, Preben Hansen and Xuguang Li

Online health question-and-answer (Q&A) forums have developed a new business model whereby listeners (peer patients) can pay to read health information derived from consultations…

Abstract

Purpose

Online health question-and-answer (Q&A) forums have developed a new business model whereby listeners (peer patients) can pay to read health information derived from consultations between askers (focal patients) and answerers (physicians). However, research exploring the mechanism behind peer patients' purchase decisions and the specific nature of the information driving these decisions has remained limited. This study aims to develop a theoretical model for understanding how peer patients make such decisions based on limited information, i.e. the first question displayed in each focal patient-physician interaction record, considering argument quality (interrogative form and information details) and source credibility (patient experience of focal patients), including the contingent role of urgency.

Design/methodology/approach

The model was tested by text mining 1,960 consultation records from a popular Chinese online health Q&A forum on the Yilu App. These records involved interactions between focal patients and physicians and were purchased by 447,718 peer patients seeking health-related information until this research.

Findings

Patient experience embedded in focal patients' questions plays a significant role in inducing peer patients to purchase previous consultation records featuring exchanges between focal patients and physicians; in particular, increasingly detailed information is associated with a reduced probability of making a purchase. When focal patients demonstrate a high level of urgency, the effect of information details is weakened, while the interrogative form is strengthened.

Originality/value

The originality of this study lies in its exploration of the monetization mechanism forming the trilateral relationship between askers (focal patients), answerers (physicians) and listeners (peer patients) in the business model “paying to view others' answers” in the online health Q&A forum and the moderating role of urgency in explaining the mechanism of how first questions influence peer patients' purchasing behavior.

Details

Aslib Journal of Information Management, vol. ahead-of-print no. ahead-of-print
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 2050-3806

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 20 November 2023

Madhuri Prabhala and Indranil Bose

While there has been extensive research on understanding the effects of online reviews on product sales, there is not enough investigation of the inter-relationships between…

Abstract

Purpose

While there has been extensive research on understanding the effects of online reviews on product sales, there is not enough investigation of the inter-relationships between online reviews, online search and product sales. The study attempts to address this gap in the context of the Indian car market.

Design/methodology/approach

The research uses text mining and considers six important review features volume, valence, length, deviation of valence, sentiment and readability within the heuristic and systematic model of information processing. Panel data regression is used along with mediation analysis to study the inter-relationships between features of reviews, online search and sales.

Findings

The study finds that numerical heuristic features significantly affect sales and online search, numerical systematic feature affects sales and the textual heuristic and systematic features do not affect sales or online search in the Indian car market. Further, online search mediates the association between features of reviews and sales of cars.

Research limitations/implications

Although only car sales data from India is considered in this research, similar relationships between review features, online search and sales could exist for the car market of other countries as well.

Originality/value

This research uncovers the unique role of online search as a mediator between review features and sales, whereas prior literature has considered review features and online search as independent variables that affect sales.

Details

Industrial Management & Data Systems, vol. 124 no. 2
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0263-5577

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 30 October 2023

Jiahua Jin, Qin Chen and Xiangbin Yan

Given the popularity of online health communities (OHCs) and medical question-and-answer (Q&A) services, it is increasingly important to understand what constitutes useful answers…

Abstract

Purpose

Given the popularity of online health communities (OHCs) and medical question-and-answer (Q&A) services, it is increasingly important to understand what constitutes useful answers and user-adopted standards in healthcare domain. However, few studies provide insights into how health information characteristics, provider characteristics and recipient characteristics jointly influence user information adoption decisions. To fill this research gap, this study examines the combined effects of physicians' certainty tone as information characteristics, seniority as provider characteristics and disease severity as recipient characteristics on patients' health information adoption.

Design/methodology/approach

Drawing on dual-process theory and information adoption model, an extended information adoption model is established in this study to examine the effect of attitude certainty on patients' health information adoption, and the moderating effects of online seniority and offline seniority, as well as patient motivation level—disease severity. Utilizing logit regression models, the authors empirically tested the hypotheses based on 4,224 Q&A records from a popular Chinese OHC.

Findings

The results show that (1) attitude certainty has a significant positive impact on patients' health information adoption, (2) the relationship between attitude certainty and information adoption is negatively moderated by physicians' online seniority, but is positively moderated by offline seniority; (3) there is a negative three-way interaction effect of attitude certainty, online seniority and disease severity on patients' health information adoption.

Originality/value

This study extends the information adoption model to examine the two-way interaction between argument quality and source reliability, as well as the three-way interaction with user motivation level, especially for health information adoption in the healthcare field. These findings also provide direct practical applications for knowledge contributors and OHCs.

Details

Information Technology & People, vol. ahead-of-print no. ahead-of-print
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0959-3845

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 15 November 2022

Ning Wang, Yang Zhao, Ruoxin Zhou and Yixuan Li

Online platforms are providing diversified and personalized services with user information. Users should decide if they should give up parts of information for convenience, with…

Abstract

Purpose

Online platforms are providing diversified and personalized services with user information. Users should decide if they should give up parts of information for convenience, with their information being at the risk of being illegally collected, leaked, spread and misused. This study aims to explore the main factors influencing users' online information disclosure intention from the perspectives of privacy, technology acceptance and trust, and the authors extend previous research with two moderators.

Design/methodology/approach

Based on 48 independent empirical studies, this paper conducted a meta-analysis to synthesize existing results from collected individual studies. This meta-analysis explored the main factors influencing users' online information disclosure intention from the perspectives of privacy, technology acceptance and trust.

Findings

The meta-analysis results based on 48 independent studies revealed that perceived benefit, trust, subjective norm and perceived behavioral control have significant positive effects, while perceived privacy risk and privacy concern have significant negative effects. Moreover, cultural background and platform type moderate the relationship between antecedents and online information disclosure intention.

Originality/value

This paper explored the moderating effects of an individual factor and a platform factor on users' online information disclosure intention. The moderating effect of cultural differences is examined with Hofstede's dimensions, and the moderating role of the purpose of online information disclosure is examined with platform type. This study extends online information disclosure literature with a multi-perspective meta-analysis and provides guidelines for practitioners.

Details

Aslib Journal of Information Management, vol. 75 no. 6
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 2050-3806

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 24 May 2022

Ranjan Chaudhuri, Sheshadri Chatterjee and Demetris Vrontis

This study aimed to determine the antecedents of privacy concerns and their impact on consumers' online information disclosure. It also investigated the moderating role of…

Abstract

Purpose

This study aimed to determine the antecedents of privacy concerns and their impact on consumers' online information disclosure. It also investigated the moderating role of government regulation on the relationship between privacy concerns and online information disclosure.

Design/methodology/approach

With the help of literature review and theories, a theoretical model was developed and then validated using the partial least squares structural equation modeling technique to analyze data from 309 respondents.

Findings

The study found that online users' privacy awareness, privacy experience, personality and cultural differences significantly and positively impact their privacy concerns, which in turn positively and significantly influence their online information disclosure. The study also found that government regulation has a significant impact on online information disclosure.

Research limitations/implications

The study is cross-sectional in nature and cannot be generalized, and therefore, a longitudinal study could be conducted. Also, the study identified four antecedents of online users' privacy concerns. More antecedents and more sample data with other boundary conditions could have increased the predictive power of the model.

Practical implications

This study will help practitioners to better understand the privacy concerns of online users, which could help them to develop better products and enhance service quality. Policymakers can develop regulations as per the online users' requirements to increase their confidence in disclosing personal information online and other online activities.

Originality/value

Few studies have dealt with online users' information disclosure and their privacy concerns or the moderating role of government regulations on online information disclosure. The study is unique as its proposed model is the first that accounts for both online users' privacy concerns and government regulation and their online information disclosure.

Details

EuroMed Journal of Business, vol. 18 no. 3
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 1450-2194

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 7 July 2022

Rajat Kumar Behera, Pradip Kumar Bala, Nripendra P. Rana and Yogesh K. Dwivedi

The Internet is used as a tool to seek health information by individuals. Mental health concerns are the high prevalence of the novel coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) and…

Abstract

Purpose

The Internet is used as a tool to seek health information by individuals. Mental health concerns are the high prevalence of the novel coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) and preventive steps are required to curb the illness. Therefore, to gain more insight into health concerns, it is now a common practice to seek health information on the Internet. This study propose an integrated theoretical model to explore the relationship between COVID-19 protocols and perceived online trust with online health information seeking intention (OHISI) and a moderating effect of perceived severity and perceived urgency.

Design/methodology/approach

Data are collected from 325 athletes in the category of individual and team sports through an online survey in a Likert-scale questionnaire. The analysis is performed with a quantitative methodology.

Findings

The study reveals the bright side of online health information (OHI), which brings athletes together and has played out with virtual happy hours, meetings and events. The bright side of OHI reflects social, cultural, technological and economic benefits. An OHI chatbot offers bright personalised side information to the individual seeker, which is more convenient and efficient than human capabilities.

Originality/value

The pivotal contribution is the integrated theoretical framework that is derived from multidisciplinary literature to capture the complexity of OHI. Also, it conceptualises the constructs in the context of OHI and COVID-19.

Details

Benchmarking: An International Journal, vol. 30 no. 8
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 1463-5771

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 28 March 2024

Jing Liang, Ming Li and Xuanya Shao

The purpose of this study is to explore the impact of online reviews on answer adoption in virtual Q&A communities, with an eye toward extending knowledge exchange and community…

Abstract

Purpose

The purpose of this study is to explore the impact of online reviews on answer adoption in virtual Q&A communities, with an eye toward extending knowledge exchange and community management.

Design/methodology/approach

Online reviews contain rich cognitive and emotional information about community members regarding the provided answers. As feedback information on answers, it is crucial to explore how online reviews affect answer adoption. Based on signaling theory, a research model reflecting the influence of online reviews on answer adoption is established and empirically examined by using secondary data with 69,597 Q&A data and user data collected from Zhihu. Meanwhile, the moderating effects of the informational and emotional consistency of reviews and answers are examined.

Findings

The negative binomial regression results show that both answer-related signals (informational support and emotional support) and answerers-related signals (answerers’ reputations and expertise) positively impact answer adoption. The informational consistency of reviews and answers negatively moderates the relationships among information support, emotional support and answer adoption but positively moderates the effect of answerers’ expertise on answer adoption. Furthermore, the emotional consistency of reviews and answers positively moderates the effect of information support and answerers’ reputations on answer adoption.

Originality/value

Although previous studies have investigated the impacts of answer content, answer source credibility and personal characteristics of knowledge seekers on answer adoption in virtual Q&A communities, few have examined the impact of online reviews on answer adoption. This study explores the impacts of informational and emotional feedback in online reviews on answer adoption from a signaling theory perspective. The results not only provide unique ideas for community managers to optimize community design and operation but also inspire community users to provide or utilize knowledge, thereby reducing knowledge search costs and improving knowledge exchange efficiency.

Article
Publication date: 20 February 2024

Halil Erdem Akoglu and Oğuz Özbek

The aim of this research is to measure the impact of eWOM (electronic word of mouth) and brand celebrity use on the purchasing behavior of sports consumers.

Abstract

Purpose

The aim of this research is to measure the impact of eWOM (electronic word of mouth) and brand celebrity use on the purchasing behavior of sports consumers.

Design/methodology/approach

To test the model hypotheses, sports consumers who use social media and have purchased at least one online sports product were selected as the research group. Online survey method was used, and 836 participants were reached. The model was tested with structural equation modeling (SEM) through smart PLS software.

Findings

As a result, the quality, credibility and usefulness of the information consumers encounter on online platforms cause them to adopt information about products or services, and then exhibit online purchase behavior. While the attractiveness and trustworthiness of celebrities are seen as important factors affecting consumers' online purchase of sports products, the effect of celebrity expertise was found to be ineffective in this study.

Practical implications

Marketers can develop more effective eWOM strategies by considering consumers' expectations. Businesses that want to implement an effective marketing strategy may prefer celebrities in product promotions or advertisements of their brands.

Originality/value

This research revealed the effect of eWOM and celebrity endorsement on the online purchase behavior of sports consumers in terms of the sports industry. Unlike previous studies, this study examined these variables together on sports consumers and contributed to the development of models.

Details

International Journal of Sports Marketing and Sponsorship, vol. ahead-of-print no. ahead-of-print
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 1464-6668

Keywords

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