The effects of physician’s brand positioning on diagnostic dispensing continuity and cross-provincial healthcare flow: Evidence from an online traditional Chinese medicine community

Given the dilemma of inheriting and protecting Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM), online personal branding can be an effective solution for TCM physicians to promote themselves and provide patients with better choices. However, there is a lack of understanding of the antecedents and consequences of TCM physicians’ brand value on online traditional Chinese medicine community (OTCMC). This paper empirically investigates the influences of physician brand positioning on brand value and added value, and examines the moderating effects of service quality and TCM regional disparity. Our results show that physicians on OTCMC could increase their brand value and added value by improving professional level, service price, and integration degree of four diagnostic methods. Moreover, service quality and TCM regional disparity positively moderate these effects. Our research contributes to the OTCMC literature and provides practical implications for TCM physicians to create brand value in online environment.