Seminars topic: Platform endorsement is increasingly popular and plays a critical role in online healthcare platforms by aiding patient choices and shaping doctors’ behaviors. Using a unique dataset from a major Chinese online consultation platform, we apply a generalized synthetic control method to examine the impact of endorsement on patient demand, doctor service pricing, service quantity, and quality. We find that endorsement significantly increases the price and quantity of paid services, while reducing free services among endorsed doctors. Despite handling higher service volumes, endorsed doctors maintain or improve quality. The endorsement program generates greater revenue for endorsed doctors and the platform, but raises concerns about equity in healthcare access due to reduced free service provision for underprivileged patients. We further find that the impact of endorsement varies between initial endorsement and re-endorsement, as well as between high-prosocial and low-prosocial doctors. These findings underscore the nuanced role of information disclosure in shaping doctor behavior and patient access, offering important implications for platform design.

Scholars Background: Xu Zhang is an Assistant Professor of Marketing at London Business School. She specializes in information design and pricing strategies for digital platform markets. With a global reach, she collaborates with companies across various industries, including healthcare, freelancing, e-commerce, online travel, and NFTs. Her work has been published in leading journals such as the Journal of Marketing Research and Marketing Science. She serves on the editorial board of Marketing Science.

Xu currently teaches Digital Marketing courses within the Executive MBA, MBA, and other master programs at London Business School. She has previously taught Empirical Marketing Models and Marketing core at London Business School, and Applied Microeconomics at the University of Michigan. Her teaching skills were recognized by Poets & Quants as one of the Best 40-Under-40 MBA professors in 2023 and being a runner-up for LBS’s Best Teacher Award in MiM 2021. Additionally, Xu has been interviewed by leading media outlets such as BBC and The Economist.

Xu holds a PhD degree in Business Economics from the University of Michigan, an MS in Economics from UC Davis, a BS in Engineering from Tsinghua University, and a dual BA in Economics from Peking University.

Time and Location: July 16, 2025, 14:00–15:30, Room A523, School of Management

Language: ENG