A Social Capital Perspective to Understand Individual Contribution of Social Support in Healthcare Virtual Support Communities

Author

Kuang-Yuan Huang ; Chengalur-Smith, Indushobha

Author_Institution

Fac. of Manage., McGill Univ., Montréal, QC, Canada

fYear

2014

fDate

6-9 Jan. 2014

Firstpage

3489

Lastpage

3498

Abstract

Drawing from social capital theory, this study attempts to present a model that applies the structural, relational, and cognitive dimensions of social capital to theorize the determinants of the provision of informational and emotional support in healthcare virtual support communities. The results show that individual provision of emotional support is determined by his/her extent of social interaction with other community members, and his/her social identification with the community. Moreover, one´s contribution of informational support can be predicted by his/her level of healthcare-related expertise.

Keywords

health care; social sciences computing; emotional support; healthcare virtual support communities; informational support; social capital perspective; social interaction; social support; Atmospheric measurements; Communities; Manuals; Medical services; Message systems; Particle measurements; Unified modeling language; companionship activity; social support; virtual community;

fLanguage

English

Publisher

ieee

Conference_Titel

System Sciences (HICSS), 2014 47th Hawaii International Conference on

Conference_Location

Waikoloa, HI

Type

conf

DOI

10.1109/HICSS.2014.435

Filename

6759037