Abstract
Introduction: Trust is a major challenge for the online market and this is especially the case for e-consultation platforms. Research that promotes online physician trust is highly desirable. In this study, we focus on whether joining a team led by a well-known physician will increase physician trust and what team characteristics will affect this trust. Materials and Methods: Brand extension theory is applied to the healthcare context to explain the impact of joining a team on physician trust. Specifically, both team strength and team similarity are hypothesized to have the main effects. In addition, team size is hypothesized to have a moderating effect. A 2 × 2 × 2 experiment was conducted to test the proposed research model. Results: The results indicated that joining a team would significantly increase physician trust (p < 0.001). Both team strength (p < 0.001) and team similarity (p < 0.001) had positive impacts on physician trust. In addition, a larger team size resulted in a reduced positive effect of team strength on physician trust (p < 0.001). Conclusions: Joining a physician team is an effective and low-cost method to address the initial trust problem of unknown online physicians.
Highlights
Trust is a major challenge for the online market and this is especially the case for e-consultation platforms
To answer these research questions, this study proposes a research model based on the brand extension theory
We identified three team characteristics, namely, team strength, team similarity and team size, which could influence physician trust
Summary
A major challenge in the online market is building user trust [1,2], because many face-to-face clues are missing in virtual cyberspace and buyers usually have little or no prior interaction with the sellers. They considered four kinds of team diversity, including status capital diversity, decision capital diversity, online reputation diversity, and professional knowledge diversity, and investigated how team composition from the diversity perspective affects online doctor team performance and how leader reputation moderates the effect of team diversity on team performance Trust is another important topic in healthcare that has received a lot of attention from researchers. Few studies have investigated the impact of team organization on physician trust, especially the effect of joining a group on a physician’s perceived trust. The first research question of this study can be interpreted as follows: RQ1: Will joining a team increase physician trust?. The second research question of this study can be interpreted as follows: RQ2: What team characteristics will impact the focal physician’s trust after joining a team? This paper concludes with a discussion on the limitations of the study and directions for future research
Sign-in/Register to view highlights & summary Sign-in/Register to access full text options 
Free) 
Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Schedule a call
