@inproceedings{0787f577c1b84007936b11f8cbc3ea36,
title = "From Seeker to Provider: User Ability and Role Switching in Online Support Communities",
abstract = "Online health communities offer a platform for patients to seek support from other users with similar conditions. As those support seekers{\textquoteright} situation improves, they may ultimately want to give back to the community and provide support to others. This study explores how seekers{\textquoteright} ability to provide support, operationalized using their cognitive state and social network structure, can influence the seekers{\textquoteright} propensity to switch roles and become support providers. We leverage the Dual Perspective Model of Agency and Communion and Social Networks literature to theorize a seeker{\textquoteright}s ability to provide support. We apply survival analysis to study seekers{\textquoteright} first role switch to a provider and the duration from seekers{\textquoteright} initial post to role switch. We find that while seekers who have higher positive agency and closeness centrality are more likely to switch roles to a provider, those having higher positive communality, degree centrality, and eigenvector centrality are less likely to switch.",
keywords = "Agency, Communion, Network Centrality, Online Support Communities, Survival Analysis, User Ability",
author = "Lee, \{Michael J.\} and Ruochen Liao and Xunyi Wang and Rajiv Kishore",
note = "Publisher Copyright: {\textcopyright} 2023 29th Annual Americas Conference on Information Systems, AMCIS 2023. All rights reserved.; 29th Annual Americas Conference on Information Systems: Diving into Uncharted Waters, AMCIS 2023 ; Conference date: 10-08-2023 Through 12-08-2023",
year = "2023",
language = "English",
series = "29th Annual Americas Conference on Information Systems, AMCIS 2023",
publisher = "Association for Information Systems",
booktitle = "29th Annual Americas Conference on Information Systems, AMCIS 2023",
address = "United States",
}