Value Co-creation in Online Healthcare Communities: The Self- and Other-Focus in Online Postings

Health care customers increasingly use digital environments to take an active role in the creation of an optimal service experience. In online communities, patients share ideas, information and experiences and thereby co-create value on two levels: cure (i.e. cognitive) and care (i.e. affective) based value. Since the focus of attention shifts between “the self” and “the other” in online communication, this study investigates the impact of adopting a self- and other-focused perspective on the co-creation of cure and care based value. The findings suggest that adopting a self-focused perspective increases the co-creation of cure based value but decreases care based value. Furthermore, an other-focused perspective has no significant impact on the co-creation of cure based value, but has a positive impact on the co-creation of care based value.