Spillover Effects of Fee-based Physician Knowledge Sharing in Online Healthcare Platforms: Insights from Brand Association Networks

The monetization of medical knowledge has become a significant trend in the digital era. Existing literature primarily focuses on physicians’ free knowledge sharing, with limited understanding of their fee-based sharing. Drawing on brand association networks and social capital, this study investigates whether physicians’ paid knowledge sharing generates a positive spillover effect on online consultation demand and explores the underlying mechanisms. Specifically, we take a network perspective to examine how the structural and cognitive embeddedness of paid sharing influences demand. Using data from a leading healthcare platform in China, we find that paid sharing positively affects demand, but only when free sharing is also present. Moreover, the network-based analysis reveals that both structural and cognitive embeddedness of paid sharing enhance demand, with varying effects contingent on the breadth and depth of free knowledge shared. This study provides managerial insights into fee-based sharing strategies for physicians and incentive mechanisms for platforms.