Development of a Value Co‐Creation Wellness Model: The Role of Physicians and Digital Information Seeking on Health Behaviors and Health Outcomes

Abstract

The US health care system lags behind other developed nations in health advances for chronic diseases. Thus, decreasing the prevalence of preventable chronic diseases has significant implications for individuals and society. Using service‐dominant logic and value co‐creation theory, the authors develop and test a health co‐creation framework that investigates how access to primary care and patient information seeking affect pro‐health behavioral changes and other mutually valued health outcomes. The findings provide evidence that access to primary care increases digital information seeking, which in turn leads to behavioral changes and increased overall physical health among a primarily Caucasian sample. The authors also show that certain health behaviors and health outcomes are affected independently and jointly through physician–patient co‐creation that involves both parties participating in decision making as part of the service exchange.