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Abstract

Online personal branding is useful for physicians to promote themselves on online healthcare service platforms. However, there is a lack of understanding of the antecedents and consequences of physicians’ personal branding strategies. Following the environment-strategy-performance framework, this study investigates the antecedents and consequences of strategic personal branding strategies among physicians on an online healthcare service platform using a mixed-method approach. A qualitative study suggests that the online healthcare service environment includes platform characteristics, competitors, and regulations, and the strategies adopted by physicians are personal branding identity and personal branding positioning. Moreover, brand performance can be measured as trust, reputation, and patient engagement. Data from a Chinese online healthcare service platform is used to empirically test the relationships between the environment and physicians’ personal branding strategies and brand performance. The empirical results confirm that physicians’ online personal branding strategies are affected by the environment, which in turn determines their brand performance. These findings can advance the understanding of the antecedents and consequences of physicians’ personal branding on online healthcare service platforms. Moreover, it has meaningful implications for physicians who want to promote themselves online and for managers of these platforms who seek to improve their features.