Decision Making in Online Social Networks: A Netnographic Study of Healthcare Online Social Networks

Abstract

Until recently online social networks have largely been ignored as a source of data, or reference for those seeking advice. However, in more recent times, websites are tapping into the „wisdom of crowds‟ as a source of information and a means of sharing personal experience. The internet has revolutionised the manner in which individuals obtain information about decisions. By using Online Social Networks (OSN), the decision- making (DM) process can be accelerated for both individuals and communities by the accessing of data from multiple sources. Its ubiquitous nature allows the process to be widely distributed, democratised, deconstructed, and diversified, through sheer speed and scale. The challenges that face users of OSN are the concepts of identity, deception, privacy, and confidentiality. Potential risk emanates from the use of irrelevant or inaccurate information or for misunderstanding relevant information. Online social networks in the recent past have started to gain the attention of those in the healthcare and medical sectors. Health issues or questions are identified to be the top three most searched aspects on the internet. However, ungoverned Healthcare Online Social Networks (HOSN) could lead to tragic consequences as illustrated by some parents refusing to have their children vaccinated because they had read on a social network that someone had severe-side effects. It is apparent that properly governed and designed HOSN can play an important role in supporting different types of decision making, as they provide their participants/stakeholders various forms of support, ranging from the instrumental to the emotional and informational. The rapid adoption of OSN and HOSN, across different stakeholders, raises the following questions: Why do people participate in these social networks? What do they wish to achieve? How do these sites become part of their lives? How does their participation in OSN and HOSN affect their decision making? What type of decisions do people make, based on these types of networks? What are the biases and strengths of the human psyche that could be attenuated or enhanced through appropriate design of OSN and HOSN? While ample independent research exists on OSN, DM, and healthcare, there is a paucity of research on a combination of these three research areas. The synergy of these themes provides an innovative and unique perspective to take a fresh look at both DM research and the actual process of DM, within the OSN and healthcare. This research used both qualitative and quantitative research methods to addresses the potential utilisation of OSN as a support tool for the DM process. The quantitative data collected using an online survey indicated that OSN supports decision making and in particular three key phases, namely Intelligence, Design and Choice. The data also revealed that different types of users (observers, seekers and advisers) have significantly different participation styles which in turn have an impact on the efficacy of the DM process. The qualitative study used Netnography as the primary method to collect and analyse data from HOSN websites. The results revealed that HOSN empowers the users to find support for all the phases of the DM process. In addition we noticed two new phases that seemed to be essential parts of HOSN conversations, namely, emotional support and sharing of experiences. By synthesising the qualitative and quantitative results, we conclude that OSN and HOSN support many of the DM phases however these phases do not follow a particular sequence and are chaotic in nature. We conclude by proposing a number of models and a framework that reflects the results obtained but could also become the foundation for future research.