The Effects of the Externality of Public Goods on Doctor's Private Benefit: Evidence from Online Health Community

摘要

In order to explore the effects of the externality of public goods in the online healthcare domain, we investigate the relationship between the contributions to Q&A (public goods) and the private benefits of family doctors based on the theory of public goods and externality. We analyze a panel dataset of 1,323 doctors from an online healthcare community, and our results show that participation in public goods will significantly increase the private benefits of family doctors. Moreover, we also find that the physician's ranking has a moderating effect on this relationship.