Table 2 Variable measurements

Dependent variable

Doctor win (DW)

Whether the doctor’s response is marked as “helpful” by the patient is indicated by the Dummy variable, with 1 being that the doctor did not win.

Independent and moderating variables

Conclusive information (CI)

Set a Dummy variable, = 1 if the doctor’s response contains conclusive information; 0 otherwise.

Suggestive information (SI)

Set a Dummy variable, to take a value of 1 if the doctor’s response contains suggestive information; 0 otherwise.

Affective information (AI)

Set a Dummy variable to take the value of 1 if the doctor responses with an affective information; 0 otherwise.

Blessed information (BI)

Set a Dummy variable to take the value of 1 if the doctor responses to a statement containing a blessing; 0 otherwise.

Decisional capital (DC)

The total number of “one-to-one” consultations with doctors is taken as a logarithmic value.

Status capital (Pc, Pa)

Set two Dummy variables SC and SA, SC = 1 if the doctor title is a chief doctor or associate chief doctor; 0 otherwise. SA = 1 if the doctor title is attending doctor or associate attending doctor; 0 otherwise.

Competition difficulty (ComD)

The reward amount is used as a proxy variable, i.e., the amount paid by the patient when he or she asked the question.

Competition intensity (ComI)

The number of responses to the question.

Control variables

Hospital level (HL)

Set a Dummy variable, = 1 if the doctor’s hospital is a tertiary hospital; 0 otherwise.