Customer-to-Customer Value Co-creation in Healthcare: Understanding Social Capital, Sense of Belongingness and Well-being in Virtual Community

The study explores patient-to-patient representation of customer-to-customer (C2C) value co-creation within social media health communities. It investigates the influence of online social capital factors on C2C value co-creation behaviours via the sense of belongingness (SOB). The mediating effect of SOB explains the underlying mechanism behind the social capital–C2C value co-creation relationship, which earlier studies ignored. The study also examines the influence of value co-creation on individuals’ well-being. A quantitative approach is adopted to examine the relationships, where the surveyed data are tested using structural equation modelling. The analysis shows that social capital dimensions positively influence the individuals’ SOB to the community, affecting the C2C co-creation behaviours. Furthermore, among C2C value co-creation behaviours, responsible and helping behaviours positively influence subjective well-being, whereas information sharing does not. Overall, the study contributes to the customer domain of value co-creation by highlighting the antecedents and consequences of C2C co-creation.