Fitness bloggers as health information suppliers: how content production ability and reputation serve as quality signals and shape knowledge dissemination in Chinese online communities.

INTRODUCTION: The proliferation of Internet fitness has fostered online fitness communities (OFCs), where fitness knowledge is produced, shared, and consumed as a health-related good. In this digital health information market, information asymmetry between fitness bloggers (suppliers) and users (consumers) necessitates reliance on observable quality signals. Drawing on signaling theory, this study examines how content production ability and reputation influence the spread breadth and spread recognition of fitness knowledge. METHODS: Using real-world behavioral data from 1,561 fitness bloggers on a popular Chinese OFC, hierarchical OLS regression models were constructed to test the proposed hypotheses. Spread breadth and spread recognition were measured by one-month increments in video views and likes, respectively. RESULTS: Content production ability positively affected both spread breadth and spread recognition, whereas reputation only increased spread breadth. Additionally, the effect of content production ability on both spread dimensions was heterogeneous across genders, while male fitness bloggers benefiting more. DISCUSSION: These findings contribute to the understanding of supply-side signal mechanisms in health information markets and offer practical insights for optimizing resource allocation in digital health promotion.