Online health communities (OHCs) often struggle to retain active users because they endow users with both a positive and a stigmatized social identity that respectively encourages and discourages their engagement. We integrate social identity theory with the concepts of social stigma, psychological capital, and digital divide to investigate this phenomenon. We collected survey data from 221 users from one large online lymphoma community in November 2017. We find that users' positive social identity had a positive influence on how they perceived the effectiveness of OHCs and this influence was stronger for the high socio-economic status (SES) group; at the same time, a stigmatized social identity had a negative influence on perceived effectiveness of OHCs and this influence was stronger for the low SES group. Moreover, users’ perceived effectiveness of OHCs had positive influences on their participation and recommendation intentions, and the influences on participation and recommendation intentions were stronger for the high and the low SES group, respectively. Our study highlights the dual influences of valenced social identities on user engagement with OHCs through their effectiveness perceptions and interprets these influences through the lens of digital divide. The findings also offer practical insights for the effective management of OHCs.

在线健康社区（OHC）经常难以吸引活跃的用户，因为他们赋予用户积极的和被污名化的社会身份，分别鼓励和劝阻他们的参与。我们将社会认同理论与社会污名，心理资本和数字鸿沟的概念相结合，以研究这种现象。我们于2017年11月收集了来自一个大型在线淋巴瘤社区的221位用户的调查数据。我们发现，用户的积极社交身份对他们对OHC效果的看法具有积极影响，而对于较高的社会经济地位，这种影响更为强烈（ SES）​​组；同时，被污名化的社会身份对OHCs的感知效果有负面影响，而对于低SES组，这种影响更强。而且，用户对OHC的感知效果对其参与和推荐意图产生积极影响，而对SES较高和较低的人群，其参与和推荐意图的影响更强。我们的研究通过有效感知突出了价廉的社会身份对用户与OHC互动的双重影响，并通过数字鸿沟的角度解释了这些影响。研究结果还为OHC的有效管理提供了实用见解。我们的研究通过有效感知突出了价廉的社会身份对用户与OHC互动的双重影响，并通过数字鸿沟的角度解释了这些影响。研究结果还为OHC的有效管理提供了实用见解。我们的研究通过有效感知突出了价廉的社会身份对用户与OHC互动的双重影响，并通过数字鸿沟的角度解释了这些影响。研究结果还为OHC的有效管理提供了实用见解。