Medical practice in gamified online communities: Longitudinal effects of gamification on doctor engagement

Gamification is used to increase the engagement of doctors on online health platforms. We track 2,106 doctors from a leading online health community (Good Doctor) over one year to investigate how gamification features (i.e., how actively doctors embellish their profiles and how they perform in popularity indicators via points and virtual gifts received) affect doctors’ future health service provision. The results showed that gamification can lead to high long-term doctor engagement. Specifically, virtual gifts and points were positively associated with doctors’ instrumental and socio-emotional participation, whereas customization was positively associated with doctors’ instrumental participation.