Consumers increasingly turn to online health communities for health information and social support. Yet, the type of value consumers derive from online health communities is not well understood. This study examines social support as the mechanism through which consumers co-create and experience different types of value. Cutrona and Russell’s typology of social support and Holbrook’s consumer value typology are applied to posts and threads obtained from two online communities for people with Parkinson’s Disease and ALS. Results demonstrate that online health communities give consumers the opportunity to create and experience forms of consumer value that would not otherwise be available in a traditional health delivery system. The results lend support to a re-conceptualisation of medical practice and health delivery for consumers with chronic conditions.

Item Type:	Refereed Article
Keywords:	online community, value co-creation, social support, consumer value, health, macromarketing
Research Division:	Commerce, Management, Tourism and Services
Research Group:	Marketing
Research Field:	Consumer-oriented product or service development
Objective Division:	Economic Framework
Objective Group:	Management and productivity
Objective Field:	Marketing
UTAS Author:	D'Alessandro, S (Professor Steven D'Alessandro)
ID Code:	138332
Year Published:	2015
Web of Science® Times Cited:	56
Deposited By:	Marketing
Deposited On:	2020-04-01
Last Modified:	2020-08-11
Downloads:	0