Spillover Effects of Physicians’ Prosocial Behavior: The Role of Knowledge Sharing in Enhancing Paid Consultations Across Healthcare Networks

This study investigates the spillover effects of physicians’ prosocial behavior, specifically knowledge sharing, on the paid consultations of other physicians within the same specialty and offline hospital. Using data from an online healthcare platform, we apply propensity score matching to explore how the sharing of medical knowledge by physicians influences the consultation outcomes of their colleagues. The results reveal significant positive spillover effects, indicating that prosocial behavior benefits other physicians within the same specialty and healthcare institution, thereby enhancing collaboration within the healthcare ecosystem. The spillover effect is stronger within the same offline hospital’s physicians on the online healthcare platform, suggesting that knowledge sharing has a more localized impact within the same healthcare institution. Furthermore, the study examines heterogeneity across both physician-level characteristics (e.g., popularity, title, price, gender) and contextual factors (e.g., specialty type, hospital level, wait time, regional GDP). The findings show that the magnitude and direction of spillover effects differ by subgroup, shaped by professional visibility, authority, and organizational structure. These insights contribute to the understanding of how prosocial behavior can foster collaboration and benefit healthcare networks beyond individual physicians, offering practical implications for healthcare platforms, administrators, and policymakers.