Digital Disruption—How Medical Doctors Employ Influencer Marketing Strategies

Digitalization is a major growth driver for the global healthcare market, including increased use of digital communication tools and particularly a new and innovative use of social media by medical doctors. Therefore, this study asks: How can doctors innovate their business model to become successful on social media platforms and what are the perceptions of their followers on key antecedents and outcomes? Based on a survey conducted on medical social media accounts with 703 respondents, this study investigates the impact of ‘Trustworthiness’, ‘Referential Skills’, ‘Opinion Leadership’, ‘Hedonism’, ‘Utilitarianism’ and ‘Para-social Relationship’ on two outcome variables, i.e. the ‘Willingness to Offer Positive Word-of-Mouth on Social Media’ and the ‘Intention to Follow the Advice’. Several theoretical and practical implications are provided.