| Healthcare services affect quality of life more than any other services do. Due to aging populations and a parallel rise in chronic diseases, public expenditure on healthcare is rising and the financial foundations of healthcare systems are weakening. This pressure on cost reductions combined with the increased embeddedness of Internet in people's lives, puts digital services and in particular online health communities (OHCs) forward as innovative solutions. Thereby, OHCs are defined as platforms that facilitate the gathering of individuals who interact on a common health interest. By sharing information on treatment and medication in the OHC patients satisfy each other's need to understand their disease and thereby create cognitive related value. However, by sharing emotions and giving emotional support patients satisfy each other's need for empathy and thereby create affective related value. These collaborations with peers in the OHC aid patients in coping with their condition which is in line with the definition of value co-creation. The latter is defined in research as "the benefit realized from integration of resources through activities and interactions with collaborators in the customer's service network".;The overall aim of current dissertation is to investigate both cognitive and affective value co-creation in OHCs. In doing so, value co-creation in OHCs is examined on three levels. First, on the level of the community (i.e., OHC), different community features are investigated that determine the value creation in an OHC. Second, within the OHC, drivers for value co-creation on a posting level are inspected. Third, the community members' social network structure as a driver for value co-creation in OHCs is investigated.;OHCs and their respective components are part of a service delivery network (SDN) and not used in isolation, but rather in the context of a network of supportive relationships outside the virtual community. Hereby, the OHC is part of the patient's service delivery network that contains traditional service providers as well as public and private sources. Hence, in a final study the integration of OHCs in the patient' service delivery network is examined. |
