Open AccessAre Health e-Mavens the New Patient Influencers?
Author(s) -
Ana M. DíazMartín,
Anne Schmitz,
María Jesús Yagüe Guillén
Publication year - 2020
Publication title -
frontiers in psychology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.947
H-Index - 110
ISSN - 1664-1078
DOI - 10.3389/fpsyg.2020.00779
Subject(s) - influencer marketing , credibility , health care , internet privacy , the internet , customer engagement , public relations , social media , source credibility , key (lock) , opinion leadership , psychology , business , marketing , computer science , world wide web , political science , relationship marketing , computer security , law , marketing management
Even though the healthcare industry is usually considered a rather traditional and slowly evolving sector, change is happening. Digitalization is transforming the way of obtaining medical advice and treatment and the Internet has become a key source for the seeking of healthcare information. It has allowed people to turn into more active collaborators in matters of their own health by enabling them to easily search and share information with other patients. Although research points out the growing importance of user-generated content in many sectors and its positive impact on information credibility, trust, engagement, and, ultimately, customer behavior ( Malthouse et al., 2016 ), there is a lack of attention to this topic in healthcare. In this brief review, we address this gap by analyzing the role of health e-mavens, which are a particular type of influencers that possesses both expertise and online social influence. We lastly illustrate possible benefits of their impact on other to the different parties involved and affected by this phenomenon.