The Impact of Social Influence on the Intention to Use Physician Rating Websites - A Randomized Experiment
(A2021-92930)

AUTHORS

Bernhard Guetz, Alpen-Adria-Universitaet Klagenfurt; Sonja Bidmon, Alpen-Adria-Universitaet Klagenfurt

ABSTRACT

For physicians, the active implementation of advertising activities can be a challenging task due to legal regulations or specific conditions with regard to this specific occupational group. A viable solution in this context could be the active use of physician rating websites (PRWs). Currently, however, it is not clear which factors affect the behavioural intention to use PRWs. For this reason, we investigated the impact of social influence on the intention to use PRWs. Our results show that social influence has an impact through the two mediator variables credibility and performance expectancy. The study confirms that social influence has an impact on the intention to use PRWs and identifies these online portals as potential marketing tools. Thus, PRWs can be seen as a means of legally accepted marketing activity for this specific occupational group in the long run.